Mission: Possible
by GaDS2000
Summary: When a series of high-tech thefts suggest that Professor Calamitous and Beautiful Gorgeous are back in action B.T.S.O. calls on Jimmy to put an end to their plot. But Global Justice has their own free-lance agent on the case as well.
1. Part 1 When Duty Calls

Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 1:

_This is an imaginary story. It could take place in the past, the present, or the future, or possibly not at all. The events that occur may never happen, but then again may. The situations are not real, and occur only in a time and place that have never existed. This is an imaginary story…_

…Aren't they all?

"Come on, Jimmy. We haven't got all day."

Boy genius Jimmy Neutron fidgeted nervously. "I don't know, Cindy. I mean, maybe this is too soon for this kind of thing."

Cindy Vortex cocked her head to one side, impatient exasperation showing on her face. "It's got to happen some time."

"Yeah, I know…but still…I just never did anything like this. I mean, I've read the books, and I know what I'm supposed to do, but…"

Deciding that it was up to her to take the initiative, Cindy advanced aggressively on Jimmy and put her arms around him. "Books are fine," she said, drawing him closer to her, "but they can only take you so far. There's no substitute for some practical experience. Ready or not, it's time to get physical."

"But –" Jimmy started to protest. He got no further than his first word. Before he knew it he was upended and flying through the air. A second later he landed flat on his back with a dull thud and lay motionless on the padded mat that covered the floor of his lab. "Ow," was all he could say.

Cindy shook her head in disgust, her hands on her hips. "I thought I told you how to land," was all she said. "You're supposed to slap the mat to absorb the impact."

Jimmy feebly slapped the mat with this right hand. "It doesn't help," he commented weakly.

"Look, Jimmy," Cindy said patiently, "you know and I know that you really need to develop some practical self-defense skills. That's why I offered to help you out with some basic judo moves."

Jimmy climbed slowly to his feet. "Maybe I'm just not cut out for this physical sort of stuff."

Cindy moved to stand next to Jimmy, her voice filled with sympathy. "Normally I'd agree with you about that, but this is something anyone can learn. You don't use your own strength. You just turn your opponent's strength against him. Or her, in this case."

"Then what am I doing wrong?"

"Well…" Cindy thought about it. "I think that you just aren't being aggressive enough."

"Aggressive?" Jimmy looked puzzled. "How can you be aggressive when you're supposed to be acting in self-defense?"

"I know, I know. It's one of those paradox things, like having to prepare for war to ensure peace, or following rules to guarantee freedom. Maybe 'aggressive' isn't the right word. I guess that 'self-confidence' is closer to the mark."

"What?" Jimmy seemed somewhat offended. "I'm full of self-confidence."

Cindy nodded. "About some things, you're definitely full of it." Jimmy shot her a dark look but Cindy's face was a picture of innocence. "But not about other things, such as this."

"What other things?" Jimmy demanded.

Cindy looked mischievous. "Like talking to Betty Quinlan."

Jimmy's face reddened. "Now wait a minute –"

Before Jimmy could continue he was again interrupted, but this time it was by an urgent beeping accompanied by a flashing red light. Jimmy's lab was equipped with several dozen alarms, each with their distinct audio and visual indications, to signal potentially disasters ranging from missing the school bus to a reactor core meltdown. For several seconds he stood motionless, unable at first to identify which of the many alarms had been activated. When he finally remembered he grabbed Cindy's arm and began firmly escorting Cindy to the door of the lab.

"Neutron, what are you doing?" Cindy asked in annoyance, digging in her heels. She recognized being strong-armed and resented it.

"Just saying good-bye," Jimmy replied hastily, attempted to shepherd her towards the exit. "Thanks a lot for stopping by and helping out. I really appreciate it. Really."

Cindy shook him off and confronted him, her fists planted firmly on her hips. "Not so fast, Neutron," she said, eyeing Jimmy suspiciously. "What's going on? What's all that racket?"

"Nothing – nothing at all," Jimmy answered desperately. "It's just a…um…routine…uh…maintenance reminder." He smiled weakly and thoroughly unconvincingly. "That's all."

The more Jimmy tried to reassure her the less convinced Cindy was that this was a routine situation. Over the years she had learned to suspect when he was attempting to cover something up and her instincts told her that this situation was clearly not what Jimmy was telling her. She looked around with a scowl, attempting to figure out for herself what was going on while Jimmy kept casting furtive glances at his watch. While both were thus occupied neither noticed a tube descending from the ceiling over them until it was too late. A noise of powerful suction came from the tube and Jimmy was pulled inside with a yelp. A second later Cindy followed him, her cry of "Neu-u-tron!" reverberating behind her.

Some thirty seconds later Jimmy was unceremoniously dumped onto a padded leather chair in a dim room. A second or two after that Cindy was dropped just as unceremoniously onto him, momentarily knocking the wind out of both of them. After they had recovered and were attempting to untangle themselves a stern, authoritarian voice demanded, "What is the meaning of this?"

Jimmy recognized the voice and struggled to his feet, dumping Cindy on the floor with a thud. "My apologies, sir," he faltered. "I'm afraid that your summons caught me off-guard and a visitor to my lab was inadvertently carried along with me."

"You can say that again, Neutron," Cindy retorted bitterly as she also got to her feet. "Just where are we, anyway?" She looked around, but could see little other than that they were at the head of a long table of shadowy figures. Closer to them was the dark silhouette of a large man who had apparently addressed them.

"Just be quiet and play along," Jimmy whispered out of the side of his mouth. "This is not the place to ask too many questions. Trust me on this."

The black shape that had spoken before was pacing back and forth. "This is unacceptable," he was saying. It's bad enough that we had to recall a civilian to B.T.S.O., but to compromise our security with a person without proper clearance is far worse."

"It's not that bad, sir," Jimmy hastened to assure the dim figure. "For a girl she doesn't really say all that much. Usually." Cindy glared at Jimmy but controlled herself. "And if she were made aware of the situation I'm sure we could rely on her discretion."

The shape stopped pacing and turned to face Jimmy. "Are you sure? The only other option is to colostomize her so she remembers nothing."

"I think you mean lobotomize," Jimmy corrected him as Cindy recoiled in disgust.

"Whichever." The unseen face turned to face Cindy. "Will you swear that anything you have seen or are about to see here will remain a complete secret?"

Cindy didn't really have much choice, as either a colostomy or lobotomy were hardly desirable options to her. "I do," she promised meekly. "But where am I?"

The figure seemed to relax. "You are at the headquarters of B.T.S.O.," he intoned solemnly.

"Which stands for Big Top Secret Organization," Jimmy explained helpfully.

"I am the director of this agency. Some time ago your companion Jimmy assisted us in an important mission to locate and assist Agent X, our top agent," the director continued.

Jimmy couldn't resist the urge to be a name-dropper and impress Cindy. "He means Jet Fusion," he added.

The director pounded his fist on the table, making Jimmy and Cindy jump and silencing the seemingly endless murmuring of the dim shapes seated at the table. "Thunderation! Is there any reason we even have 'Top Secret' as part of our name?" he shouted angrily.

"Well," Cindy observed helpfully, "if you didn't have it your organization would be known as just B.O."

The dark shape seemed to consider that. "Good point. I like your way of thinking."

"Thank you, sir," Cindy answered.

"You were saying?" Jimmy prompted, glad that his gaffe had been set aside.

"What? Oh, yes. Jimmy was instrumental in helping Agent X foil the plans of a mad scientist and his assistant who planned to flood the world. Now, we need Jimmy again."

"Me?" asked Jimmy, both surprised and pleased.

"Him?" Cindy asked, just surprised.

"Yes. Let me explain." The director thumbed a hidden switch on the table and a bright map of the world, speckled with half a dozen glowing dots, appeared on one of the rooms walls. "Over the past two weeks various high security laboratories and research centers have been broken into and robbed. Among the items stolen were several advanced design toroidal cores, coils of superconducting alloy, a portable gigawatt energy generator, advanced RISC processor prototypes chips, and containers of helium-3 isotopes. Does that suggest anything to you?"

To Cindy the list meant nothing but Jimmy was rubbing his chin and looking thoughtful. "Well, if they could obtain enough beryllium alloy for a lightweight central core and neodymium to concentrate the field, the thieves might be constructing an ultra-powerful magnetic generator. What they'd use it for is anyone's guess."

"Our thoughts exactly," the director said triumphantly. He turned to the shadowy figures arranged around the table. "You see?" he gloated. "I told you that they weren't boosting this stuff for a garage sale."

The dim figures murmured over this and were silent.

"Do you have any idea who might be behind this?" Jimmy asked.

"Yes, we do. At the last robbery the security guards caught a glimpse of them. One was man in a lab coat. The other was a young woman with dark hair."

Jimmy nodded grimly. "Dr. Calamitous and Beautiful Gorgeous."

"Exactly. And since you were able to foil them before –"

"- you want me to take them down again." Jimmy nodded. "No problem. If Jet – I mean, Agent X - is ready, we can get to work immediately."

The director shook his head. "Unfortunately Jet is engaged and won't be available."

"Another mission?" Jimmy asked.

"Another movie. Normally I'd call him in anyway, but with recent budget cuts we really need our percentage from his acting revenue." The director sighed and his shoulders slumped. "I'm afraid you're in this on your own."

Jimmy nodded. "I understand."

Cindy could not contain herself any longer. "What do you mean, 'alone'?" she demanded, not wanting to be left out of the adventure. "What about me?"

"You?" Jimmy fumbled for the right words. "What do you know about spying and secret agent work?"

"As much as you," Cindy countered. "I've seen every Jet Fusion move you have and I know a lot more about martial arts than you do."

"That's true, " Jimmy grudgingly admitted. "but it's up to the director as to whether you can go."

Cindy turned to the looming shadow. "Well?" she asked.

The director considered it. "If you were on the mission we wouldn't have to worry so much about your inadvertently leaking any information," he slowly replied. "All things considered it might be the best choice." He came to a decision. "All right, she's in. But officially neither of you even exist. We will deny ever having contacted you regarding this mission."

"Understood," Jimmy acknowledged and Cindy nodded soberly. "Now, do you have any ideas where the thieves might go next?"

The director pressed another switch and the map showed another glowing dot. "There are a number of locations where beryllium and neodymium can be obtained, but only one place where both are available in large quantities. It's the Middleton Institute of Technology's Advanced Materials Lab. We're positive that that's where they'll strike next."

Jimmy smiled grimly. "Then that's where we'll be waiting for them."

End of Chapter 1.

Author's Notes:

The introduction to this story is an homage to the introduction of a Superman story called "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" by Alan Moore. In the mid-1980's DC decided to revamp the Superman legend under the guidance of John Byrne and this was the last "Silver Age" Superman story meant to bring closure to that continuity. In the story Moore killed off virtually everyone that was central to the Superman history and did away with Superman himself, in a way. In the DC Universe imaginary stories were a common plot device and dealt with such far-out ideas as "What if Adolf Hitler had found Superbaby's rocket?" and "What if Krypton had never exploded?" It got to be so common that genuine drastic changes to the Superman title had to be prefaced with such disclaimers as "Not a dream! Not an imaginary story!" to get readers to take the changes seriously. Moore introduced the end of the Silver Age Superman legend as an imaginary story, but his ingenious twist on it was the last line, "Aren't they all?"

Some may say that this detracted from the impact of the story and the Superman comics in general. I think he meant that any of the stories, imaginary or not, could be as real as the reader wished them to be. I'll let the reader draw his or her own conclusion for this tale.


	2. Part 2 Friendly Enemies

Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 2:

Rather than have B.T.S.O. issue them any special equipment, Jimmy opted to equip himself and Cindy with devices from his own lab. Some of the devices were familiar to Cindy from previous escapades with Jimmy and his friends, but several were new to her. Among the unfamiliar devices was what appeared to be a cross between a pair of binoculars and a Viewmaster that Jimmy referred to as the Neutron Omnispecs 2000.

"And just what are the Neutron Omnispecs 2000?" Cindy asked.

"Just the latest advance in visual surveillance equipment," Jimmy explained. "They provide access to the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum, including the visible, infrared, ultraviolet, cosmic, X-ray –"

"X-ray?" echoed Cindy uncomfortably.

"They don't emit X-rays. They just pick them up and produce a false color image of X-ray emissions."

Cindy shook her head impatiently. "I didn't mean that. I mean, you can see through things with that gizmo?"

Jimmy nodded. "Yep. Well, except extremely dense substances like lead or osmium or –"

"Including clothes?"

Jimmy thought about it. "Well, yes. I suppose so. Why?"

Cindy folded her arms across her chest in defiance. "Just this, hot shot. You'd just better point those things in another direction when I'm around. Got it?"

Jimmy looked shocked. "What are you implying? That I'm some kind of peeping Tom?"

"I'm just saying that I don't think you could resist the urge to embarrass me if the opportunity arose."

Jimmy started to protest but then thought better of it. Once Cindy got an idea in her head it was nearly impossible to get it out and usually dangerous to even try. "Okay, fine. You keep the Omnispecs then, if you don't trust me." He handed her the device to put into her backpack. "Just don't leave them on when you're not using them. You'll drain the battery. Oh, that reminds me." He opened a cabinet on the wall and removed two cylinders that appeared to be D-size batteries. "I'd better take a couple Neutron energy cells just in case."

"Extra batteries? Why?"

"On the last mission we nearly got creamed by a giant snowball because we didn't have any. This time I want to make sure I don't make that mistake." Jimmy finished stowing the cells and straightened up. "Okay, I think that's it. Ready to go?"

Cindy nodded and her backpack over her shoulder. "Ready. How are we going to get to Middleton?"

"We could take the hovercraft, but since we're in a hurry we'll have to use the Strato XL. I figure that it will take about 20 minutes to get there from here. Adjusting for time zones that will get us there at about 9:00 PM, local time."

"Will that be enough time to get ready?" Cindy asked as she climbed into the rocket.

"It should be. All the other thefts took place sometime around midnight." Jimmy settled into the pilot's seat and began activating controls. "Okay. Egress hatch is open. Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed, and…we're off!" At the touch of a button the rocket's powerful engines roared to life and Cindy felt the exhilarating sensation of acceleration as the ship soared away from Jimmy's clubhouse into the upper atmosphere. She had flown in the craft before, but each time she had to admit that the ride was as exciting as the time before.

It was actually a few minutes before 9:00 PM when the Strato XL touched down on the outskirts of Middleton. As the two exited from the rocket Cindy thought of something that worried her. "Hey, Jimmy," she said. "What if someone spots this while we're away?"

"No worries," Jimmy replied. He activated his wrist communicator and touched a button. As he did so the ship seemed to ripple and then faded away completely. "Cloaking technology," Jimmy explained, seeing Cindy's astonished face. "We just have to remember where we parked so we can be nearby when we de-cloak the ship."

They made it without incident to the Middleton Institute of Technology's Advance Materials Lab and hid in the shadows while Jimmy rummaged through his backpack. After a few seconds' searching he found what he was looking for and stealthily approached one of the building's side doors with Cindy following closely behind.

"What's that?" Cindy whispered as Jimmy pointed it at the doorknob and activated it.

"A focused ultrasonic projector," Jimmy whispered back as he gently worked the cylinder back and forth with a tool in his other hand. "It should vibrate the lock tumblers into position and unlock the door."

"What if it doesn't work?"

"Well, there's always the laser although I hate to – okay, got it," he announced softly as a click came from the doorknob and it rotated freely. "According to B.T.S.O.'s map of the facility the materials storage facility should be down the hall to the left. Follow me."

"Okay," she whispered back. "Just go slowly."

It was pitch dark Inside the building and rather than search for a light switch Jimmy had Cindy put on the Omnispecs. Following his instructions she activated the infrared mode of the device and took the lead. They had gone about twenty feet when Cindy suddenly stopped, causing Jimmy to bump into her. "What is it?" he asked quietly.

"I can see some bright beams across the hallway," she whispered. "They must be infrared detectors."

"Can you get past them?"

"Yes, I can. But you might blunder right into them."

"Okay, then, guide me to the beams and tell me what to do to get past them. The only other option is to trade off the Omnispecs and there's the danger we might drop them or break one of the beams when we pass them."

Following Cindy's directions Jimmy made it past the invisible light beams and waited for Cindy to maneuver through them as well. Once past the sensors they continued on to the hall leading to the materials storage facility, where, fortunately, there did not appear to be any additional security precautions visible in the infrared spectrum. The door to the storage area was also locked, but ultrasonic vibrations made short work of the locking mechanism and they entered without difficulty. Just for good measure Cindy scanned the large room with the Omniscope to ensure that everything was clear while Jimmy waited, literally in the dark, with growing impatience.

"Well?" he asked at last. Although he was whispering the acoustics of the large room seemed to magnify his voice and cause it to echo.

"It seems okay," Cindy whispered back, "but there's some sort of heat source near the roof, about twenty feet up." She paused. "Make that two."

"How big?"

"Hard to say at this distance. They almost look like they're moving. No, strike that. They are moving. In fact –" She broke off and suddenly shoved Jimmy aside, yelling, "Duck!"

Jimmy sprawled on the floor and was conscious of something or someone rushing past him in the near total darkness. Without the benefit of night vision there was little he could do other than hope that Cindy would be able to fare better with the Omniscope. "It must be them!" he called out, not bothering to keep his voice down any longer. "Be careful – he's not much but she's an expert in martial arts!"

"Nice to be appreciated," a female voice said.

Cindy quickly found Jimmy's warning to be completely unnecessary. The lithe figure before her seemed to have little difficulty in keeping Cindy on the defensive and she had no doubt that her opponent was thoroughly skilled in hand-to-hand combat. From time to time Cindy sought to take advantage of a temporary opening, only to find her punch or kick deftly blocked and a return stroke headed her way. Though she had been able to hold her own thus far Cindy was clearly outmatched and knew it was only a matter of time before her assailant learned her fighting technique. Once that happened it would quickly put an end to the battle. "A little help here!" she called out, tired and angry.

Jimmy, in the meantime, had been grabbed by the scruff of the neck from behind by a second unseen foe and lifted completely off his feet. "Got the other one!" he heard an unfamiliar voice say. "You doing okay?"

"Hey, no big," a female voice answered. "Really, I mean that. This one must be about four feet tall." Cindy snarled and took an especially vicious swing at her opponent who skillfully parried it. "You know, I'm beginning to think that maybe this isn't what we thought it was."

"Well, after we take these two down maybe they can shed some light on things.""An excellent suggestion," Jimmy said. Although he couldn't wriggle out of his captor's grasp he arms were still free. He reached into one of his pocket, extracted what appeared to be a flashlight, and activated it. Instantly the device cast forth a soft but bright light that illuminated the immediate surroundings and saturated the photomultipliers of the night vision devices in use. Jimmy's captor immediately dropped him as he instinctively threw his hands over his eyes.

"I'm blind!" he cried, staggering around in circles. "I can't see a thing!"

Jimmy paid scant attention to him. Instead, he was looking at Cindy's opponent who, despite Jimmy's unexpected move, had recovered beautifully by casting off her night vision goggles, flipping away from Cindy, and dropping into a defensive stance. She was a girl in her mid-teens, dressed in a midriff-baring black pullover and grey guerilla-style pants. She had fashionably long reddish-brown hair and green eyes, and was, despite her attire, extremely attractive without being intimidating.

"You're not Beautiful," was all Jimmy could say.

"So the charmer," the girl replied dryly, relaxing her stance a bit.

"Blind!" the girl's partner wailed.

"Downshift the drama, Ron," the girl said easily. "Take off the goggles."

The person named Ron, who was dressed much as the girl was, complied and breathed a noisy sigh of relief as he joined his partner. Cindy had removed and deactivated the Omnispecs as well even though they had been unaffected by the light of Jimmy's torch. Unlike the night vision goggles the Omnispecs did not amplify ambient light, but rather selectively scanned specific portions of the electromagnetic spectrum and coverted them into visible frequencies. The four looked at each other uncertainly, not quite sure what to say. At last Jimmy broke the silence.

"I guess it's pretty obvious that you two are not Professor Calamitous and his daughter, Beautiful Gorgeous," he said. "Um…that's what I meant when I said you weren't Beautiful. I didn't mean you weren't beautiful, I just meant that you weren't the person who actually is Beautiful…I mean…I didn't' mean…" his voice trailed off into an awkward silence.

The girl didn't appear to be offended, and almost seemed amused by his ramblings. "Never mind, I think I understand," the girl replied. "And it's pretty obvious that you two aren't Dr. Drakken and Shego, either."

"So, who are you?" asked Cindy.

"Kim Possible," the girl answered. "And this is my friend Ron Stoppable."

"And you are –?" Ron asked.

"I'm Jimmy Neutron," Jimmy replied. "And this is my partner Cindy Vortex."

"A little past your curfew, isn't it?" asked Kim.

"Well, yes and no. I mean, we're kind of on a mission here. There have been some scientific robberies lately and -"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on," Ron said. "You're on a mission?"

"Well, yes," replied Cindy. "And you?"

"We're…kind of on a…mission, too," Ron answered slowly. "But we really can't say much about it. Hush-hush and all that."

"Uh-huh," said Jimmy. "Same here."

"This is too weird," was all Kim could say. "You can't be more than twelve and you say you're on a secret mission? For whom?"

"I'm afraid I can't say unless I know you're cleared for it," Jimmy replied. "Who are you working for?"

"Same answer," was Kim's response.

"So where do we go from here?" asked Cindy.

In response Kim removed what appeared to be a PDA from a back pouch and activated it. "Wade, you there?"

The face of a young boy appeared on a small video screen. "Always am," a voice replied.

"We've run into some major weirdness here. Could you do me a favor?"

"What's the sitch?" The voice from Kim's device broke into a laugh. "I've always wanted to say that. Seriously, what do you need?"

"There are a couple kids here named Jimmy Neutron and Cindy Vortex who claim to be on a secret mission but they won't or can't say who. We need to sort things out to know how to proceed here."

"You want me to do some snooping on the covert channels?" the boy named Wade said.

"Please and thank you. And could you hurry? I think we'll be getting some company pretty soon and it would be nice to know who's wearing the white hats by then."

Wade gave a low whistle. "You're talking about getting through some major firewalls and breaking some pretty serious encryption here. RSA, PGP, DES…"

"Half a hour enough?" Kim smiled.

"No problem. I should have something for you in fifteen minutes." The screen went dark and the four young people settled back in an uneasy truce to await the results.

End of Chapter 2

Author's Notes:

In every crossover there always seems to be an obligatory misunderstanding and battle before everyone knows who's who and the good guys can finally work together. Part of this is to let the readers evaluate their favorites against the other guys and determine who's "better" than whom. In this one I'd have to give Kim Possible the nod over Cindy on the martial art skills, but am sure that Cindy could easily take Ron despite his skills with Tai Chi Pe Kwa (or however the Chinese name for Monkey Kung Fu is spelled). As to whether Jimmy is smarter than Wade…well, next chapter will settle that.


	3. Part 3 The Good Guys and the Bad Guys

Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 3:

As the four were waiting for Wade to get back to Kim with his findings Cindy suddenly screamed and leapt backwards. Her shriek of terror made everyone else jump and look about cautiously for the source of her alarm, but when they found nothing they all looked at Cindy in bewilderment. "What is it?" asked Jimmy.

Cindy pointed with a trembling hand at Ron. "There's a snake in his pocket!" she said.

Ron looked puzzled and then offended. "That's not a snake. It's just my pet naked mole rat, Rufus." He reached into the pocket from which Rufus had poked his head and brought the odd creature forth. "He's totally harmless." He held Rufus out to Cindy who stared suspiciously at the small animal. Rufus returned her scrutiny with a curious inspection of his own before waving at her.

"Hi," he squeaked.

Cindy was taken aback by this. "He talks?"

"Well, not exactly," Ron answered, "but he's pretty smart. If you pay attention and listen carefully you can generally understand what he's trying to tell you. Did you want to hold him?"

"Umm…no, thanks," she said uncomfortably. "No offense," she added quickly, when Rufus folded his forlegs and sulked.

Jimmy in the meantime had been making small talk with Kim. "So, that was pretty impressive fighting," he said.

"Thanks," Kim replied.

"Ninja training?"

"No. Cheerleading practice, mostly."

Jimmy sounded impressed. "Really? You must be awfully talented."

Kim shrugged easily. "Dad's a rocket scientist, Mom's a brain surgeon…I guess I came from the deep end of the gene pool. You?"

"Well, Mom's pretty good with mechanics and physics, and Dad's…" Jimmy paused to think about it. "…married to Mom," he finished lamely.

At that moment four musical tones sounded from the Kim-municator at Kim's waist. She activated it. "What up, Wade?"

"I did some digging, and you're not going to believe some of the stuff I found," Wade told her. "First off, this Neutron kid is smart."

"Really? How smart?" Kim asked. "Are we talking the Tweebs smart, Mom and Dad smart…"

"You remember Justine?"

"Justine? You mean Justine Flanner?" This actually stunned Kim. "You mean this kid might be in Justine's smarts league?"

"I mean," Wade said, "that Justine might be in this kid's league."

Kim found that hard to accept. "Hold on, now, Wade. Justine built a transdimensional vortex inducer for a science project that actually made a tear in the space-time continuum."

"And this kid built something called a Goddard that has a nuclear reactor the size of a softball," Wade countered.

"Baseball, actually," interjected Jimmy, who had been listening. "I made some improvements."

Kim stared at Jimmy for a second before turning back to Wade. "A nuclear reactor? Are we talking fission or fusion?"

"Hard to say, really. It looks like it's optimized for aluminum."

Kim was sure that Wade had finally lost his mind. "Wade, you can't run a nuclear reactor on aluminum. Even Ron knows that."

"Hey!" objected Ron, who wasn't sure if he'd been complimented or insulted.

"It goes against the laws of physics," Kim continued, ignoring Ron's outburst.

Wade shrugged his shoulders. "Tell me about it. But that's what it does. It's like this kid actually makes up his own rules. It would take me a while to even start understanding how it all works."

"Okay," Kim said, deciding to accept Wade's word on the subject. "What else?"

Wade sounded embarrassed. "Well, that's all I could get before his system detected my hack and shut me down."

_Good old Vox_, thought Jimmy proudly.

"Then let's just agree that he's a genius. Did you find out anything from the security agencies?"

Wade looked happier about that question. "Quite a bit actually. Jimmy's name shows up in the system of virtually every government agency you can think of. It seems that he caused some difficulties with his inventions when he was younger. Since he's grown up, relatively speaking, he's been credited with a number of commendable actions. Seems he saved his home town from a meteor, a giant mutated woman, some pants gone wild –"

"Okay, okay, he's got a rep," Kim interrupted. "But you said 'virtually every government agency'. Which ones don't have him on file?"

"Global Justice is one, but they generally only keep files on people who work for them or the bad guys they've gone or expect to go up against. The other is an organization called the Big Top Secret Organization, or B.T.S.O. for short."

Kim looked thoughtful. "I've heard of them."

"Apparently everyone has," Wade agreed. For a top secret organization they don't maintain much of a low profile."

"We know he doesn't work for Global Justice," Kim said. "So what does this tell us?"

"It tells us that either B.T.S.O. is pretty oblivious to not know who he is when everyone else does, or –"

"- or they've omitted him from their files because he's one of their operatives," Kim concluded.

Wade shrugged. "That's the way I read it."

Kim smiled a smile that Jimmy thought enhanced her already exceptionally attractive features. "Great work, Wade. You totally rock."

"Out loud?" Wade added.

"The loudest. Thanks." Kim shut off the device and looked thoughtfully at Jimmy and Cindy_. This is totally insane_, she thought. _What does it mean when the safety of the world comes down to two teenagers and two pre-teens?_ Aloud she said, "Okay, we're pretty sure we know who you are. I suppose we should level with you as to who we are."

"You're agents for Global Justice," Jimmy stated in a matter-of-fact voice.

Ron glared at him suspiciously. "How do you know that?"

"Simple deduction," Jimmy answered. "Kim said she knew that we didn't work for Global Justice. It made sense that she knew that because she was already working on the case for them."

_This kid really is sharp_, Kim admitted to herself. "Well, you're right. A couple weeks ago the head of Global Justice, Doctor Director, learned that some pretty high-tech stuff was being boosted. Their top scientists analyzed the equipment that had been taken and determined that some sort of high-powered magnetic device was being put together and that the next logical item would be some beryllium alloy."

"That's pretty much what B.T.S.O. decided," Jimmy agreed. "The beryllium alloy would be used to construct the extremely strong frame need to hold the super-conducting magnetic coils in place. Based on the one eyewitness description we thought that it was probably Professor Calamitous and his daughter Beautiful Gorgeous behind the thefts."

"Interesting," Kim replied, raising her voice a little to be heard over a faint but growing humming. "We assumed that it was Dr. Drakken and his assistant Shego."

"Who are they?" Cindy asked, nearly shouting to be heard over the growing noise.

"Hey, guys," Ron yelled. "Is that the air conditioning or a ventilation system or what?"

"Not sure," Cindy hollered back. "I'm new in town."

Kim assumed an aggressive stance. "I think I can guess what it is," she shouted. "Get ready!"

As the four looked about them a noise of tortured metal came from somewhere above them. Suddenly the roof of the room above them peeled back to reveal an ominous black shape silhouetted against the starry sky directly above them. The humming abruptly ceased as the cutting beams that had sliced the roof free from the walls were shut off.

"Showtime," said Kim. "The mystery guest has just entered the building."

"But is it Calamitous or Drakken?" Jimmy wondered out loud.

In answer to Jimmy's question an unmistakable voice boomed out from a public address system on the hovering craft. "Ah, Neutron…for a supposed boy genius you disappoint me. The answer should be obvious."

"Calamitous," Cindy muttered fiercely. She remembered her previous experience with him clearly and detested the precise voice.

"You're not the only ones who can join forces, you know," another voice, unfamiliar to Jimmy and Cindy but well known to Kim, Ron, and Rufus, announced.

"Drakken…" Ron blurted out in surprise.

"…and Calamitous," Cindy concluded.

"Together?" Jimmy wondered aloud. He and the other young people looked at each other as they absorbed this unexpected turn of events.

"Uh-oh," squeaked Rufus.

"It looks like things just got a whole lot more interesting," Kim observed wryly.

End of Chapter 3

Author's Notes:

About the only thing better than having the good guys team up is having the bad guys team up as well. As Kim observed, things get a whole lot more interesting.


	4. Part 4 First Blood

Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 4:

Kim had scarcely finished speaking when a score of uniformed muscular men began rappelling from the hovering craft into the storeroom. All appeared to be armed with rifles of some sort and Jimmy and Cindy, unaccustomed to such armed confrontations, froze. Kim, on the other hand, had expected this sort of thing from Drakken. She did a forward flip over the two younger people to place herself between them and the advancing henchmen. "Stay down!" she ordered as she assumed a fighting stance.

If anything could snap Cindy out of her daze it was the implication that she couldn't take care of herself. "If you think I'm staying out of this…" she began, only to be interrupted by an energy blast from a rifle that barely missed her. "…it actually might not be a bad idea," she finished meekly.

"Don't worry, Kim!" Ron called as he moved to a supporting position. "We've got your back!"

Despite the odds, however, Kim seemed to be in no serious trouble as she bounced, flipped, and sprang among Drakken's wildly firing men with an easy agility. As she moved among them she reduced their numbers by either attacking them directly or manipulating their movements so that they blasted each other. After a few short minutes they were all down and she stood there, breathing hard and looking about her suspiciously.

"That was easy," said Jimmy.

"Too easy," Kim replied. "I wonder what happened to –"

Kim's next words were lost as a lithe figure in black struck her from behind, completely surprising her and knocking her to the floor. She recovered instantly and rolled back to her feet, ready to confront her new adversary. Her green eyes hardened as she took in the unfamiliar figure.

"So you're Kim Possible," the stranger almost purred. She was a young woman in her early twenties, quite attractive and particularly shapely in the skintight black outfit she wore. "You're good. Very good."

"And you are…?" Kim asked.

"Beautiful Gorgeous," Jimmy answered for her in a voice dripping with contempt.

"She sure is," Ron agreed, his mouth hanging open.

_Boys_, thought Cindy with disgust. She had developed an instant dislike for the newcomer and wondered how anyone could possible miss the obvious malevolence that clung about her as tightly as the supple leather outfit. She wondered with some disdain as to whether Jimmy had acted like that the first time he had met the woman.

"Ron, I think they've already mopped the floor in here," Kim said dryly. "Reel in your tongue and close your mouth."

"What? I wasn't –" Ron started to protest.

"Oh, yes you were," smiled Beautiful as she winked at Ron. "But I hope you won't mind if I take it as a compliment."

"Fine, you do that," retorted Kim. "And I hope you won't mind if I take you to jail." She assumed a fighting stance again.

Her antagonist smiled in reply, dropping into a martial arts position and beckoning with one hand. "Let's see what you've got."

As the two closed together Jimmy began digging into his backpack, extracting various devices and setting them aside. Finally he pulled what he had been searching for, his hypno-beam, and waited for a clear shot at Beautiful. _It worked before_, he thought, _so it should work again._

Actually getting the clear shot was a problem. Kim and Beautiful were both intent on keeping up the pressure and took every opportunity to punch or kick at the other. Each time they found themselves thwarted as the other deftly dodged, blocked, or parried the attack. Despite her advantage in size and experience Beautiful found that Kim's speed and dexterity were superior to hers and put the two combatants on equal footing.

"You are good," Beautiful admitted with grudging admiration during a brief pause.

"Very good," Kim answered as the two warily circled each other.

As Kim and Beautiful sought an opening Jimmy thought he saw an opportunity approaching. As Beautiful moved around into his sights he raised the hypno-beam and yelled, "Duck, Kim!" even as he began squeezing the trigger. Before he could fire, however, a bolt of green energy blasted the device from his hand and left the hypno-beam a molten mass of metal and plastic on the floor. Another bolt knocked him backwards into a wall and left him lying stunned on the floor. A woman with a mane of black hair and dressed in a garishly pied green and black outfit dropped lightly down from somewhere above to land in front of him. In the light her complexion seemed to be a pale green.

"No, no, no," she said. "Let Kimmie and her new friend play."

"Shego!" yelled Ron.

It was a bad move on Ron's part. Hearing Ron's cry Kim's attention was shifted momentarily from her opponent to Ron and the others. In that moment Beautiful succeeded in landing a punch to Kim's midsection that knocked the breath out of the teenager. At the same time she pressed a button on her belt causing a hidden nozzle to expel a cloud of vapor in Kim's face, just as Kim sucked in to replace the air that had been forced from her lungs. As the gas filled her lungs Kim recognized the sweetish odor as an anaesthetic compound and she fought desperately to remain conscious and on her feet. She failed at both.

"You're good," Beautiful repeated to the senseless girl at her feet. "But I'm better."

Ron and Cindy were both torn as to what to do. Ron's first instinct was to rush to Kim's aid, but personal experience had conditioned him to recognize Shego as his primary foe. On the other hand, Cindy wanted to help Jimmy but had no idea how to combat someone who could fire green energy bolts from her hands, yet she was certain she was no match for the woman who had felled Kim. Their indecision sealed their fate as Shego and Beautiful moved in to trap the two young people between them. Thus cornered Ron and Cindy had no recourse but to fight. Neither of the women seemed intimidated by their defiant stance.

"Monkey kung fu," Beautiful commented as she studied Ron's movements. "Not a bad system to master." She assumed a menacing stance. "Of course, I know over a hundred others. This could be interesting."

"And what do you think you're doing, Blondie?" Shego sneered as Cindy prepared to fight. "Getting ready for a tai chi demonstration at school?" She smiled evilly as her hands appeared to burst into emerald flame. "I eat beginners like you for breakfast."

"You might consider switching to Atkins," Cindy shot back. "The calories are definitely showing."

Cindy had hoped that insulting Shego would anger her and make her careless. She achieved her first objective but Shego was too experienced to let emotions dictate her actions. She attacked with cold precision, forcing Cindy back as the young girl parried and dodged her vicious swipes. Cindy had no idea what the green energy was that Shego controlled but she knew it was dangerous and wanted no part of it.

Ron was also having a difficult time of it. Beautiful's claim was no idle boast and Ron found that his martial arts knowledge was not up to the task. His efforts quickly became purely defensive in nature. It wasn't long before Beautiful found an opening and landed several quick blows that left Ron in semiconscious pain on the floor. Almost immediately after that Shego breached Cindy's defenses and sent her sprawling beside him. As the Shego and Beautiful moved in on them to finish the job Drakken's voice boomed from the ship.

"Shego! Beautiful! Forget about the buffoon and the girl. Just collect Possible and Neutron and get back here."

Shego looked doubtful. "I don't think it's a good idea just to leave them here."

"Did you leave the surprise like I asked you to?"

"Well, yes, but –"

"No buts. Get back here. We have work to do."

Shego sighed. "Fine, okay, whatever. You sign the checks." She headed over to Jimmy, who was starting to come to himself again. "But I bet you're going to regret this later." Annoyed with Drakken's cavalier attitude she again blasted Jimmy, sending him back into the blackness from which he had been emerging.

"You too, daughter," Calamitous' voice came over the ship's speaker. "We have what we came for."

Beautiful looked around. "There's more of the beryllium alloy here."

"What we have should be adequate to strengthen the frame. The authorities are on the way."

"But –"

"This minute, young lady! Or it's to your room with no supper tonight."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." She slung Kim, still unconscious, over her shoulder. "Like I'd really regret missing Spaghetti-O's and Tater Tots," she grumbled.

The two fired grappling lines up to the ship and activated the motors that pulled them and their helpless captives back into the craft. By this time most of the henchmen had recovered and were also returning to the ship by similar means. Once inside the ship Shego and Beautiful secured Jimmy and Kim in separate locked compartments and reported to the ship's main control room.

"Well done," Professor Calamitous congratulated them.

"Yeah, well, I think we should have taken care of the other two. Somehow or other these loose ends always come back to haunt us," Shego commented. "I'm not even sure why you wanted us to bring Possible and that Neutron kid back."

"Because they will make the perfect guinea pigs for our tests," explained Professor Calamitous. "And as a wise man said, 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies…'…um…um…"

"'…in a cool, dark place to keep them from spoiling'?" suggested Beautiful listlessly.

"'…closer'," finished Drakken. "Which is what we're doing."

Shego shrugged. "Okay, fine, we have Possible and Neutron on ice. But what about the other two?"

Drakken laughed. "The buffoon and Neutron's girlfriend? Hardly a threat there, I think. And besides, my surprise will take care of them."

"What is your surprise?" asked Beautiful.

"Just a box I stuck in the lab's magnesium stockpile," said Shego.

"It's hardly a box. It's an incendiary device that will ignite the magnesium stock," Drakken explained. "Do you know just how hot magnesium burns once it ignites?"

"No," Shego answered truthfully. "How hot?"

"It's more than…the combustion temperature is well over…I don't know," Drakken confessed. "You'd have to ask that boy genius Neutron about it. But I know it's pretty hot." He laughed again. "After it goes up they'll be lucky if they find anything left of the lab, much less those two kids or any sign we were ever there."

End of Chapter 4


	5. Part 5 Out of the Frying Pan

Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 5:

In Drakken's and Calamitous' hurry to leave with their captives they had, as most others did, overlooked the fifth member of the opposition. Early in Ron's skirmish with Beautiful Gorgeous Rufus had dove clear of the battle to await an opportune moment to join in. He had witnessed Kim's and Jimmy's abduction, seen Ron's and Cindy's defeat, and overheard Drakken's reference to a surprise that Shego had left behind. Rufus had long experience with Drakken and Shego, and knew that any surprise that the two would leave behind could only mean disaster. As soon as the ominous ship had departed Rufus raced frantically about the large facility in a frenzied attempt to find what Drakken's surprise could be. Fortunately most of the area was in darkness beyond the circle of light cast by Jimmy's dropped lantern and Rufus was quick to spot a faint red glow pulsing in one corner of the room. He quickly scampered over to investigate and discovered the glow came from an LED numeric display on a metal box slightly larger than a loaf of bread amongst a pile of metal. As Rufus watched the glowing display changed from 3:58 to 3:57, then to 3:56, then to 3:55.

"Uh-oh," the little rodent said.

The device was too large for Rufus to deal with himself, even had he known how. He turned and scurried back to where Ron was lying and began frantically bouncing up and down on the unconscious boy's chest in a desperate attempt to rouse him. After a couple minutes the small rodent's efforts paid off. Ron stirred, opened his eyes, and looked dazedly about him.

"Kim?" he asked thickly. "K.P.? Are you there?"

In response Rufus began chirping rapidly and waving his forelegs. Ron ignored the naked mole rat's excitement, scooped him up, and got unsteadily to his feet. Seeing Cindy lying nearby he half-walked and half-stumbled over to her and raised her to a sitting position, taking care to cradle her head as he did so. As Rufus continued his frenzied chattering and gesturing Ron gently stroked Cindy's forehead and face, not certain how else to revive her. As he did so Cindy awoke, and looked in puzzlement at Ron. "Jimmy?" she asked weakly.

"Gone," Ron replied. "Kim, too."

"Where did they take them? And why? And why didn't they take us, too?"

Ron shook his head. "I guess they figured we weren't important enough to bother with."

Cindy became aware of Rufus's animated squeaking. "What's wrong with him?"

"Upset about Kim, I guess." He put a hand over Rufus to quiet him. "Calm down, fella. We'll find her. The first thing to do is get hold of Wade."

Rather than calm down Rufus became more agitated. Cindy watched with growing concern. "I don't think that it's Kim he's worried about," she said slowly. "I think he's trying to tell us something."

Rufus nodded his head vigorously. "Uh-huh, uh-huh," he squeaked.

"Like what? What could be so important?" Ron studied Rufus carefully. "Is it something about Drakken?"

"Or Calamitous?" Cindy added.

In answer Rufus hopped to the ground and spread his forelegs as wide as he could as Ron and Cindy paid close attention. "Boom!" he seemed to say.

Cindy and Ron looked at each other. "If I didn't know better," Ron said in growing apprehension, "I'd say he was telling us that Drakken left a bomb around here." He looked around nervously.

"A bomb?" Cindy suddenly felt as nervous as Ron looked. "But where? Rufus – do you know?"

Rufus nodded vigorously and shot off into the darkness. "After him!" Ron yelled as he took off after the rodent. There were the sounds of a painful collision just beyond the ring of light almost immediately after, followed by a yelp from Ron. "You might want to bring the light," he called.

Cindy sighed, picked up Jimmy's light, and headed in the direction Ron and Rufus had gone. Rufus seemed to understand the situation and waited for her to catch up before continuing on. _Smart rat_, Cindy thought to herself as she and Ron hurried after the excited mole rat. Rufus stopped abruptly by a large pile of metal rods and pointed at the box. Just as with Rufus the intent of the device was immediately apparent to Cindy and Ron. The countdown now read 2:42.

"I think you were right, Ron," Cindy said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

"Why do I always have to be right when it's about something bad?" Ron demanded of no one in particular. "Do you know how to defuse a bomb?"

"No. Do you?"

"No. I don't think even Kim would know. Wade might, if we could get hold of him, but the Kim-municator went with Kim."

Cindy was studying the box, the metal, and where they were. She noticed that attached to the suspected bomb was a small tag that read, rather enigmatically, "Ho, Ho, Ho." There was something about the situation that was like a puzzle with a missing piece. Something not quite reason but more than instinct was telling here that if she could only find the missing piece she might be able to solve the puzzle. But what was it?

"I think we might have time to get away if we run fast," Ron was saying.

Cindy barely heard him. She was studying the rods and looking for something that would identify to the mystery metal. After a few seconds she discovered a label on the pallet that read: MAGNESIUM BAR STOCK. "What do you know about magnesium?" she asked Ron.

"What? Uh…" he thought furiously. "Is it important?"  
"I think so." She pointed to the box, which now read 2:06. "This is a pretty small device. If it's a bomb, why would they put it so far away from everything else in this room?"

Ron looked skeptical. "It might be small, but it could pack a big punch."

Cindy shook her head stubbornly. "No. If it were an explosive I'm certain they would have put it as close to the center of this room to cover as much area as possible. They wanted it near the magnesium. But why?"

Something in Cindy's voice carried conviction. Ron sighed apologetically. "I'm sorry, Cindy. Chemistry is not my best subject."

"Well, think!" Cindy urged. "Magnesium. It's light…"

"They use it in car wheels…" Ron added.

"It's kind of like aluminum…"

"It's used to make flares…"

"They use it in antacids and vitamins – " Cindy broke off and stared at Ron. "What did you say?"

"What? Oh…that they use it in flares. You know, the really bright ones."

"That's it!" Cindy suddenly had the missing piece. "Magnesium burns. I remember now that in science class our teacher once burned a strip of magnesium. I remember that she had to use a blowtorch to get it started, but once it started the fire was pretty bright and very hot." She eyed the large magnesium rods. "And that was just a small piece. If this stuff were to ignite…"

"Bad news?"

"Major bad. I don't know what kind of fire extinguishers they have here, but I'd bet it wouldn't be enough to stop it if a fire got going." She came to a sudden decision. "And I'll be that device isn't really an explosive. It's something to get the fire started. We have to move it."

Ron was instantly alarmed. "Move a bomb?" He faltered for words. "Isn't that…dangerous?"

"And leaving it where it is isn't dangerous?" Cindy looked at the countdown timer. "We have 45 seconds left. I don't think we have any options." To her dismay she became aware of sirens in the distance, and realized that hey were coming closer. Drakken's indelicate removal of the roof had undoubtedly tripped an alarm and alerted the authorities who were undoubtedly coming to investigate. It they got to the building and the magnesium ignited, people could very well get hurt – or worse. "I'm going to try it. Are you in, or out?"

Ron realized that he had little choice. "In. Let's do it," he said determinedly.

Carefully he and Cindy coaxed the device from its resting-place. With Cindy holding the lantern to show the way Ron gingerly carried the box to the center of a large open space. They were not sure what other substances were present in the facility and so decided that placing it as far from everything as possible was the best choice. Once Ron had carefully set the box on the floor the timer indicated that they had 15 seconds left. Ron, Cindy, and Rufus used every one of those seconds to put as much distance between them and the device as possible.

They had just settled behind a large stack of iron bars when a dazzling burst of radiance illuminated the entire storeroom and left them temporarily blinded. When the purple afterimage faded and they could see clearly again they peered around the sheltering bars. They saw at once that the box was no longer there and that in its place was a large, discolored mark on the concrete floor. More careful inspection showed that the floor in the area appeared to have become very warm as smoke or steam was rising from it, and that some of the concrete appeared to have actually melted. Other than that there was no other apparent damage to the facility. Ron and Cindy slumped to the ground in relief as Rufus clasped his forepaws over his head and cheered.

"It looks like we were right," Ron said with a weak smile.

"Why does it have to be when it's something bad?" Cindy replied with a faint smile of her own. "So what's next step?"

"If you ask me, the next step is getting hold of Wade."

"And if you ask me," a gruff voice above them said, "I'd say the next step is getting you to put up your hands and reading you your rights." Ron and Cindy looked up in surprise, having forgotten about the approaching sirens in the stress of the moment and their subsequent relief. A police officer and his partner were standing on the other side of the iron stack, their guns drawn and pointed directly at the two young people. Ron and Cindy looked at each other, trying to think of something to say. Cindy finally spoke up.

"Actually, officer," she said weakly as she and Ron stood up, "would you believe we're the good guys?"

In response the officers placed her and Ron's hands behind their backs and began affixing handcuffs.

"I didn't think so," Cindy concluded miserably.

End of Chapter 5


	6. Part 6 North vs South

Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 6:

The officials at the Middleton Police Department were familiar with Kim Possible and had grown accustomed to the strange circumstances that seemed to accompany each of her adventures. Even so, the events at the materials lab required some routine questions and neither Ron nor Cindy were in a position to give very convincing nor satisfactory answers. At length the lieutenant who had been placed in charge of the investigation leaned back in his chair and stared silently at them, drumming his fingers against his desk while pointedly ignoring Rufus, who was helping himself to the sugary donut in front of him.

"Look, I know it sounds weird, Lieutenant Sawyer," Ron said, "but all I can say is that Kim will have to explain when she gets back."

"Uh-huh," the lieutenant grunted. "But you can't say where she is now."

"No."

"Or when she'll be back."

"No."

"Or what she's doing."

"No."

"Or what you're doing."

"No."

"Or who this young girl –" He stopped hid drumming to point at Cindy. "- is or what she's doing here."

"Well…" Ron considered it as the police officer leaned forward expectantly. "No," Ron finished unhappily.

Lieutenant Sawyer slumped back, looked at Cindy, and raised a questioning eyebrow. Cindy sighed and said, "No, no, no, no, and…well, no."

The police officer stood up and turned towards the window, clasping his hands behind his back. "You know, you two kids are putting me in quite a spot here. Maybe to you it's all fun and games and live for the moment. But for everyday Joes like myself there are rules and regulations and reports and responsibility. What am I supposed to say to the captain?"

Ron fought to find the right words. "You can say that Kim is on the case and she's never let you down before."

The words apparently were the right ones for the lieutenant's reply sounded strangely thoughtful. "I suppose it's the least I could do after she helped me out with those stolen energy weapons."

"Hey, as Kim would say, 'No big'," Ron offered hopefully. "After getting past the heat-sensing explosives and trained attack leopards it was so not the drama."

The lieutenant came to a decision. "All right. I'll trust you on this one for Possible's sake. But I'd better get some answers in short order or I'll have to formally re-open this investigation and follow through. Clear?"

"As crystal," replied Ron.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," added Cindy.

"Yeah, yeah," Lieutenant Sawyer muttered gruffly as he resumed his chair. "Just get your rodent out of here and go back home before I change my mind. It's late and there's a curfew around here, you know."

"Right away, sir," said Ron in relief. He scooped up Rufus, who had finished the donut and was belching contentedly, and retired from the lieutenant's office with Cindy close behind him.

"That was close," Cindy commented once they were outside the station. "Now, how do we contact Wade?"

"Through Kim's web site," Ron replied. "He'll see our message and contact us. I guess the best place to do that is at my house."

The walk to Ron's house took about twenty minutes although it seemed like hours to Cindy. She was not familiar with Middleton, which made the trip seem longer, and she was worried about Jimmy, which made the time seem to drag. When they arrived at Ron's house they found that his parents had apparently already turned in for the night, which enormously simplified the situation for Ron. He had been worrying about how he could explain what he had been doing and who Cindy was, and, unlike Lieutenant Sawyer, his parents would not be willing to wait for answers.

Once upstairs Ron closed the door to his room and surfed to Kim's Web site to post a request to Wade. Cindy couldn't help noticing the phrase, "I can do anything" prominently displayed on the Web page. _Just who is this girl?_ she wondered. Despite the obvious skills Kim had displayed earlier that evening Cindy still couldn't help thinking that she was just a basic, average girl.

After about five minutes Ron's phone trilled and he answered it, activating the speakerphone feature for Cindy's benefit. "Ron here."

"Ron? Wade. What's up with the Web posting?"

"Lost the Kim-municator, Wade. Kim, too. Drakken got her."

"And Jimmy," Cindy called out.

"Who's that?" asked Wade.

"This is Cindy Vortex. Oh, and another thing. Professor Calamitous and his daughter are working with Dr. Drakken and Shego."

This drew a whistle from Wade. "I saw some references to him and his daughter on the B.T.S.O. system earlier. That's not good. Any ideas on where they went?"

"We were hoping that you'd know," Ron replied.

"Sorry, not a clue. I've been looking for Drakken's new HQ but there's no sign as yet. If he's working with Professor Calamitous that will make it twice as hard, because that doubles the search possibilities." Wade's voice took on an even more dismal tone. "And they may have set up a brand new base that neither have used before."

Cindy tried using logic. "Can you use what they stole to figure out how far they could transport the goods and maybe triangulate from that?"

"Good idea. Let me check." There were a few silent moments, aside from a faint clicking as Wade worked his keyboard. "Sorry, Cindy, no go. With Drakken's and Calamitous' resources they could have hauled the stolen items anywhere in the world."

"Oh, no," grunted Rufus.

Cindy sounded incredulous. "Anywhere in the world? Are you sure?"

"From my information they could haul a herd of elephants without any trouble."

Ron couldn't keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "Well, that would be great to know if we were looking for an elephant, Wade!"

"Calm down, Ron," Cindy said, although she felt just as bad. "It's not Wade's fault."

Ron heaved a heavy sigh. "I know. It's just that…I guess Drakken was right. We really aren't much of a threat to him even though he did try to burn us up." He sighed again. "I guess the second-stringers aren't much use."

Wade, however, had been thinking. "Finding an elephant," he mused.

"What?" Cindy asked.

"Finding an elephant. Maybe that's it!"

"Are you…" Cindy tried to take in what Wade was saying. "Are you saying we should look for elephants now?"

Wade's voice was becoming more excited. "Yes. No. What I mean is, if you steal an elephant where could you hide it?"

Cindy and Ron thought about that. "I suppose in your garage," Ron answered. "But I guess it could make a lot of noise and –"

"No," Cindy interrupted in dawning realization. "You couldn't hide it just anywhere. It's too conspicuous. You'd have to put it where it wouldn't stand out."

"Exactly!" Wade crowed in triumph. "You can't put an elephant just anywhere because someone is going to notice. Drakken and Calamitous are building the most powerful electromagnet in the world. You can't hide a magnetic field that size, especially if you were running tests. You'd need to put it where no one would notice it until it's too late."

"Okay, we're listening," said Ron.

"There are only two places on Earth where they could do that." Wade concluded triumphantly. "The north and south magnetic poles."

Cindy felt a faint thrill of hope. "You think that's where Calamitous and Drakken are hiding out?" she asked.

"I'm positive."

"Well, that narrows the search to two places," Ron said. "There are two of us. I guess we could split up and complete the search twice as fast. I'll check the north pole and Cindy can check the south pole."

"No," Wade argued. "You should stick together. With Drakken and Calamitous working together you need someone familiar with each of them on the team. You'll just have to check out both locations."

"But that would take too long!" objected Ron. "They already have the parts they need. And every minute we waste puts Kim – and Jimmy – in greater danger!"

"I still think –" Wade began.

"Out of the question –" Ron argued.

As the two boys argued over the best course of action Cindy's thoughts were racing. Suddenly she froze as the answer came to here. "I know where they are."

The quiet intensity of her voice was enough to silence both Ron and Wade. "What?" they asked together.

"I know where they are," Cindy repeated.

"How do you know?" Ron demanded. "We have to be sure about this."

"I am." Cindy looked at Ron with calm determination on her face. "Because Calamitous and Drakken told me."

"Told you what?" Wade asked.

Cindy smiled. "Ho, ho, ho."

End of Chapter 6


	7. Part 7 No Way Out?

Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 7:

Jimmy slowly came to himself and became aware of a warm and somehow pleasant pressure against his right side. As he stirred sluggishly he realized that something soft and silky was touching the skin of his right arm, and it gradually dawned on him that it was someone's hair brushing against him. He slowly opened his eyes and saw that Kim was leaning against him with her head resting on his right shoulder. She was not yet awake and in her unconscious state seemed younger and more vulnerable than Jimmy remembered. As he watched, not certain what to do, she stirred and slowly opened her eyes, looking into his in puzzlement. Jimmy was suddenly and uncomfortably aware of just how pretty and close she was to him.

"I wasn't doing anything!" he stammered in protest, backing away from her. "Honest!"

Kim seemed puzzled at his outburst. "Chill, Jimmy. No need to panic." She stood and stretched, working the stiffness out of her joints. "Where are we?"

Jimmy stood up also and shrugged. "I'm not sure. I just woke up myself."

"How long have we been out?"

Jimmy glanced at his watch. "About two hours, near as I can tell." He looked around to discover that they were in some sort of cell, bare except for a bench they had been sitting on. His backpack was gone and he didn't doubt that any special equipment Kim had been carrying had also been taken. Walls of some dark grey metal made up three sides of their quarters, while the fourth side appeared to be an opening leading to a larger area beyond. Jimmy and Kim moved cautiously towards the opening, suspecting a trap. When they were within a foot or two of the opening Kim's quick ears picked up a faint, throbbing hum and she threw her arm protectively in front of Jimmy.

"Force field," she explained grimly when Jimmy gave her a questioning look. "Probably not lethal, but no sense in risking it."

Jimmy carefully leaned a little closer until he could also hear the faint hum coming from the invisible field. "Good call," he said. He looked around at the other walls. "Any chance of getting out another way?"

Kim busied herself with rapping against the other walls before shaking her head. "I doubt it. I'd say these walls were at least four inches thick." She stamped on the floor and surveyed the fluorescent light panels in the ceiling some twelve feet above them. "And I don't think that the floor or ceiling are an option at this point. And I'd bet that this place is shielded to prevent radio communications."

"Oh, what a shame," a familiar yet irritating voice said. "What's the problem, Kimmie? Aren't you the person who can do anything?"

"Shego," Kim answered through gritted teeth.

Shego appeared from one side of the opening, giving the two captives a wicked smirk. "Seriously, Princess, how does it feel to be taken down so easily?"

Kim dropped into a martial arts stance. "Step inside and I'll show you."

"Oh, hey, love to," Shego replied with mock amiability, "but Drakken and Calamitous are going to be running some tests soon and they wanted a test subject. Personally I hope they save Kimmie for last, but it's not my call."

"What kind of tests?" Jimmy wanted to know.

"Multiple-choice, essay, true/false." Shego shrugged. "Don't know, don't care. Once Calamitous' daughter shows up to get one of you two losers I expect you'll find out pretty soon." She gave edges of the force field an appraising look. "Sure you don't want to give the force field a try? Just to make sure it really can stop you and isn't just, you know, Christmas lights?"

"If anything stops anyone, it will be us stopping you," Jimmy retorted.

Shego looked bored. "Yeah, yeah. Been there, heard that. Just like your two lame friends were able to stop us."

"What about them?" Kim demanded. Both she and Jimmy had forgotten all about Ron and Cindy and Shego's comment worried both of them.

"Oh, that's right. You were out already, weren't you?" Shego assumed an attitude of indifference. "Not much to tell, actually."

Kim's voice took on a dangerous edge. "Spill it, Shego."

Shego shrugged. "Well, if it had been up to me, I'd have taken care of both of them then and there. But not Dr. D. Oh, no. He has to concoct some ridiculously overblown plan to get rid of them and the plant all at the same time."

"What did you do?" Jimmy nearly shouted, torn between anger and fear.

"Hey, first off, it wasn't my idea. Drakken had me put some kind of bomb in the magnesium to get rid of both your friends along with any evidence that we had been there." Shego paused and looked thoughtful. "Too bad about your girlfriend, Neutron. But I always thought that the buffoon was making an ash of himself."

If Jimmy remembered about the force field he didn't seem to care. With a snarl of anger he lunged at Shego before Kim could stop him, his hands outstretched and twisted into claws by unadulterated primal fury. Scant inches from Shego he was stopped and hurled back, his body twisting as electrical energy coursed through him. He fell heavily to the floor, gasping from pain and raw emotion. Kim hurried over to kneel next to him.

Shego seemed almost impressed. "Hey, that's the spirit. You want to quit while you're ahead or go for total electrocution?"

Kim shot her a venomous look. "Back off, Shego."

"Okay, fine, whatever." She disappeared beyond the field of view of the cell. "Just call me over when you feel like putting on another show. I wouldn't want to miss it."

"Are you okay, Jimmy?" Kim asked gently.

"I'll be okay." He clenched his fist in anger. "If I could just get to that witch –"

"Hey, I heard that," Shego's voice called out in mild protest.

"Good," Jimmy called back loudly. "Then I won't have to repeat it." More quietly he said, "If anything's happened to Cindy…"

"Relax, Jimmy," Kim said, although she two was concerned. "They're tough. They'll be all right."

"It's more than that. She shouldn't have come along. I should have stopped her but I didn't. If anything happened to her it'll be all my fault."

"Don't think that way. I know Ron and he's…well…despite what Drakken and Shego say he always comes through. I'd bet him against Drakken and Shego any day."

Jimmy looked unconvinced. "We didn't do too well, did we?"

Kim shook her head. "It doesn't look too good, does it?" she said softly. "It seems like maybe they did beat us this time."

A funny look came over Jimmy's face. "Beat?" he repeated. As Kim looked on in bewilderment Jimmy climbed to his feet and walked closer to the force field. As he stood there, saying nothing, Kim began to worry.

"Are you all right, Jimmy?" she asked, moving next to him.

"Fine," Jimmy replied in an odd voice.

"What are you doing?"

"Listening."

"To what?"

Jimmy looked at her with a strange light in his eyes. "If I can get us out," he whispered, "do you think you could take on Shego?"

"In a minute," Kim replied without hesitating. Then she looked puzzled. "How?"

In answer Jimmy walked to the back of the cell and motioned her over. "Do you know how that hum from that force field seems to throb?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," Kim answered softly. "So?"

"So, I think that it's a beat frequency." Seeing her blank stare he continued. "When two signals of different frequencies interact they create additional frequencies, called beat frequencies. The hum we hear is the frequency of the force field. The throbbing is one of the beat frequencies."

"Okay, got that," Kim said in a low voice. "But where's the other frequency coming from? And…so what?"

Jimmy pointed at the fluorescent lights. "The other frequency is coming from the power lines. And that means that the force field circuitry isn't very well shielded."

"Chalk another one up for Drakken."

"Actually, I'd bet that Calamitous is the culprit here. He never could finish anything. Anyway, I think that I can find the frequency of the force field and cancel it out."

A ray of hope suddenly dissipated Kim's bleak outlook. "You think so? How?"

Jimmy showed her his watch. "I can tune the oscillator in my watch to find the frequency of the force field."

Kim looked amazed. Everything Jimmy had told her seemed so simple that she found herself wondering why she hadn't thought of it herself_. Wade wasn't kidding about this kid_, she thought to herself. "And once you find it you can bring the field down?"

"Yes." He frowned and began pacing up and down. "But it will take me a while to find the right frequency. And," he continued turning to face Kim, "I won't be able to keep it down for long. We'll have a few seconds at best to get through."

Now that there was a plan of action Kim rose to the occasion. "It'll be enough. Once we're through, just leave Shego to me."

Jimmy looked worried. "Can you really take her? Those green energy bolts looked pretty dangerous."

Kim looked almost blasé. "Trust me. No big." She looked thoughtful. "It's distracting her so that you can get the force field down that will be the problem. She's sure to get suspicious while you're trying to find the right frequency."

"I know." Jimmy thought about it. "Maybe we could create a distraction."

"Any distraction we make would have to be in here and would bring her over," Kim pointed out. "We want to keep her away from here."

"Good point. Maybe we could wait until she falls asleep?"

"Good luck. Shego's had ninja training. She won't sleep until she wants to sleep and she'll be awake in no time if anything suspicious is up."

"Maybe she'll take a coffee break?" Jimmy was grasping at straws now.

Kim shook her head. "Never heard of Drakken giving one."

The situation was nearly maddening. Now that they had a clear plan for escape the lack of an opportunity to execute it seemed like a cruel joke. Nothing, Jimmy was sure, could possibly make the situation any worse. And then fate seemed to deliver the final punch line.

"It's about time," he heard Shego say.

"Hey, it's not my fault that Drakken and Daddy Dearest can't stick to a timeline. But just try to get either of them to use a Day Planner." As Kim and Jimmy watched with sinking hearts Beautiful Gorgeous came into view. "Okay, Neutron, it's show time. You have an appointment with the big boys upstairs. Oh, and Kim?"

Kim looked wordlessly at her.

"Don't wait up. He won't be back anytime soon…" Beautiful paused to let the meaning of the words sink in. "…if at all."

End of Chapter 7


	8. Part 8 Divide and Conquer

Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 8:

While Jimmy stood frozen in indecision Kim saw an opportunity. In a soft voice just loud enough to carry byeond the confines of the cell she said, "No, Jimmy! If it were Shego you might have a chance, but…" She let her voice trail off as Jimmy stared at her in bewilderment. In a much quieter tone she whispered, "Just play along."

Outside the cell Shego had been entering the code to drop the force field but had stopped at hearing Kim's comment. "What did you say?" she demanded.

Kim feigned ignorance. "I didn't say anything."

Shego left the keypad and stalked over to the cell entrance to confront Kim. "Repeat it."

"But I didn't –"

"Repeat it!" Shego snapped, her eyes blazing.

Kim sighed and her shoulders slumped in resignation. "Fine. Jimmy was going to try escaping from Beautiful. I told him that if you were escorting him he might have a chance, but…"

Shego planted her fists on her hips, anger coloring her face. "Whoa, wait, hold on there. Just what is that supposed to mean?"

Kim shrugged easily. "Hey, you and I have tangled a couple dozen times now and every time I've kicked your butt. Beautiful goes up against me and takes me down on her first try. You do the math."

"I'd call it dumb luck," Shego scoffed.

Beautiful, who had appeared amused by the exchange thus far, seemed to be annoyed by Shego's remark. "I'm not surprised you'd say that. I didn't think you'd recognize real talent when you saw it."

Shego was about to reply when Jimmy, who had caught on, spoke up. "I don't know, Kim. I didn't have much trouble with Beautiful when we tangled before. I'd have to say that Shego and her laser blasts are a lot more formidable. They give her the advantages of both power and reach."

"See?" Shego cried in triumph, pointing a finger at Beautiful. "What do you say to that?"

"Who are you going to believe?" Beautiful sneered. "A world-saving teen heroine with a proven track record or some twelve-year-old kid?"

"A twelve-year-old kid with an I.Q. over 200," Shego shot back.

"And what is that supposed to prove?"

"That he's at least twice as smart as an average person," Shego responded smugly. "Which makes him at least three times as smart as anyone in your family."

Beautiful assumed a threatening stance. "You sound like someone just asking for a butt-kicking."

Shego's hands burst into green flame. "And you think you're the one to do it?'

"Anytime, anywhere, Greenie!"

"Here and now is fine with me, Precious!"

With a snarl both women sprang at each other. As they did so Kim whispered to Jimmy, "Now's your chance! Wait for my signal to open the field!" Then, in a loud voice, she called out, "Take it to her, Beautiful!"

Jimmy hurried to a far corner of the cell and got to work. Calling the device on his wrist a watch was an injustice, much as calling an ocean liner a raft would be a vast understatement. In addition to keeping time Jimmy's wristcomp also provided the functions of a PDA, GPS, videophone, and several other userful devices. One of those devices was a laser, although Jimmy had been understandably reluctant to use it in an escape attempt while Shego had been on guard. Besides, it was a terrible drain on the power cell.

At the moment Jimmy was not interested with any of the functions of his wristcomp. Instead, he was feverishly modifying its intricate circuitry using the set of tiny tools that he kept inside the case for the many times he felt the temptation to tinker. The task at hand was simple but time-consuming. Jimmy would make a minute adjustment to the tuning circuit of the wristcomp's main oscillator, check for the change in power level indicating a reaction from the force field, and then repeat the process when there was no response. It was nerve-wracking work, and he hoped that Shego and Beautiful would be kept busy until he found the frequency needed to damp out the force field. Fortunately both women were determined to prove themselves the better competitor and the battle was still going strong when he finally isolated the frequency.

"Got it!" he whispered to Kim, who was watching the fight.

"Not yet," she whispered back. "But when I give the signal, follow me out and stay out of the way." She raised her hand, watching for the right moment. Now that Jimmy no longer needed to concentrate on the circuitry of his wristcomp he found himself watching the contest between Shego and Beautiful with growing interest. In addition to skillful lunges, punches, and kicks he noted that both women were not above attempting to scratch or pull the other's hair if the opportunity arose. Their obvious fighting skills worried him.

"Are you sure you can take them both?" he whispered anxiously to Kim.

"No," she replied, but sounded unconcerned. "I only intend to take on one." She suddenly stiffened as the two combatants maneuvered towards the front of the cell. "Get ready…Now!" she said, dropping her hand and crouching down to leap forward. At Kim's signal Jimmy activated the wristcomp and the hum of the force field ceased. Instantly Kim launched herself forward, vaulting in a graceful somersault over Shego and Beautiful before they noticed or understood what was going on. Jimmy also dove through the opening and rolled to one side just as Kim landed lightly in a handstand and kicked backwards, striking Shego in the small of the back. Caught completely unawares by the surprise attack Shego lurched forward into the vacant holding cell just seconds before the wristcomp's power cell gave out and the force field again closed over the opening. Shego frantically blasted the walls and field with no apparent effect in a futile attempt to get free.

"Nice move," Beautiful conceded as she ignored Shego's plight and prepared to face her new adversary. "I guess that maybe you really can do anything."

"You don't know the half of it," Kim replied grimly, also adopting a fighting stance. "You ready for a rematch?"

Beautiful smiled and gestured for her young opponent to come closer. "Anytime, anywhere." Not waiting for a response she leaped forward, her leg swinging forward in a savage kick at Kim's head. Kim responded by slipping under the attack and throwing a reverse punch at her attacker as she flew past, but Beautiful easily parried the blow and used the energy to land easily beyond the reach of any immediate follow-up attack by Kim. Beautiful relaxed her stance somewhat and shook her head with a sly smile. "You're good, Kim," she said. "But frankly, you're just not in my league."

"Sewing or bowling?" Kim answered without a smile. She attempted to vault over her foe but Beautiful grabbed one her legs and threw her viciously to the floor, sending Kim sprawling.

Beautiful moved slowly, almost indifferently, towards her. "Let's face it. I'm bigger, stronger, and better trained. You don't have a chance."

Kim got to her feet and circled cautiously, keeping her distance while waiting for an advantage to appear. "So you say."

Jimmy watched helplessly, wishing that there were something he could do to help. He spotted his and Kim's equipment lying on a table at one end of the room, and while Kim and Beautiful sought for an opening he moved over to see if there was anything among his gear that might help. He wished now that he had repaired his hypno-beam and brought it along, as it had worked on Beautiful once before, but after several moments of rummaging he concluded that none of his items would be of any help. Having exhausted the possibilities with his equipment he turned to Kim's things and began searching through them. There was not much there, but a gun with a grappling hook caught his eye. He looked around the room, figuring trajectories and calculating angles in his head.

Beautiful was slowly herding Kim into one corner of the room. "Looking for some place to run, Possible?"

"So not my style." Kim replied, crouching down. Behind Beautiful she could see Jimmy moving, carefully counting paces from one corner of the wall. Inside the cell Shego had given up trying to blast her way out and had assumed the role of a disgruntled spectator. She saw Jimmy but seemed almost bored by his actions.

"Hey, Precious. You might want to think about Kimmie's partner," she called out.

"Neutron?" Beautiful, intent on taking down Kim, didn't even bother to look around. "He's smart, but like he's really a threat without his gadgets. He even thought that you were actually better than me."

Shego scowled at the rebuff, showing her clenched teeth . "Don't say I didn't warn you," she finally said, but in a voice so low that only Jimmy heard it.

Kim was now backed almost fully into the corner and Beautiful pressed forward, sensing victory. "Looks like it's the big wrap-up, Possible."

"Good choice of words," Jimmy commented behind her. Aiming carefully to one side he fired the gun, sending the grappling hook speeding towards one of bordering walls. In less than a second it struck the wall, ricocheted between Kim and Beautiful towards the other corner wall, and then ricocheted again back towards Jimmy. Before reaching him the length of line was exhausted and the hook fell back on the rope, forming a loop around Beautiful. Bracing himself, Jimmy pressed the button to retract the hook, tightening the loop around the startled woman, pinning her arms to her side, and dragging her back towards him.

Kim wasted no time in taking advantage of situation. She dove forward onto the astonished Beautiful, seized the nozzle that had deployed the sleep gas, pointed it towards Beautiful's face, and snapped the tip off. Beautiful received a stream of gas in her face just as she was sucking in a lungful of air to replace the air that Kim's impact had knocked out of her. As the gas took effect she grew limp and looked at Kim almost apologetically. "I never wanted…to be a…villainess…" she whimpered. "All I really wanted was…to be a…be a…" And with that she slumped to the floor, unconscious.

Shego let out a little noise of disgust. "Told you," she sneered at the sleeping figure. "Amateur."

Kim stepped back from Beautiful and gave Jimmy a smile. "Great work, Jimmy. You most definitely rock."

"Thanks," Jimmy said. "And now to find Calamitous and Drakken."

"And when we find them?" Kim asked, retrieving her things.

Jimmy looked grim as he shouldered his backpack. "We take them down, too. And they'd just better hope for their own sakes that their plan for Cindy and Ron didn't work."

End of Chapter 8


	9. Part 9 The Subpolar Express

Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 9:

"Okay, so we know where they are…probably," said Ron. "Now we need to find some way to get there. And from what I understand Santa keeps the North Pole well-hidden, so actually finding it will take some time."

"Umm…Ron?" Cindy said hesitantly. "We aren't going to the geographic North Pole. We're going to the magnetic north pole."

Ron looked confused. "There's a difference?"

"Yes," said Wade. "The North Pole is the northern terminus of the Earth's axis of rotation. The magnetic north pole is the north pole of the Earth's magnetic field."

"Say who what now?" Ron asked.

Cindy sighed. "Hand me that globe." Ron complied and Cindy went on. "Look, you know the world is round and spins on its axis, like this." She slowly turned the globe and then looked sharply at Ron. "You did know that, right?"

Ron looked slightly offended. "Of course I knew that."

"Okay, look here. There's a rod through this globe, like the axle on wheel, which this globe is rotating around. That's the center of spin and that's called the axis. The rod comes out on two opposite sides of the globe. This end here, in Antarctica, is the geographic South Pole. The other one here, in the Arctic Ocean, is the North Pole."

"So you're saying that Santa's workshop at the North Pole is in the middle of an ocean?" Ron sounded both skeptical and confused.

Cindy thought about that. "Well, I never really thought about it before when I was there, but –"

"Hold on, hold on," Wade interrupted. "Are you saying you were at the North Pole? Or at Santa's workshop?"

"Both, actually."

Wade sounded genuinely incredulous. "You're kidding."

Ron, however, sounded genuinely impressed. "You were at Santa's workshop?"

The memory wasn't an especially pleasant one for Cindy and sorry she had mentioned it quickly changed the topic. "Yes. Long story. But to answer your original question, the ocean is frozen over by the north polar ice cap, so it's not much different from being on solid ground. But have you got the geographic poles straight now?" Ron nodded and she resumed studying the globe. "Okay, the Earth has a magnetic field, like the field around a bar magnet. This field is what makes compasses work, helps birds navigate, and so forth. And like all magnets it has a north and south pole. At last report the Earth's magnetic north pole, which we want to find, is somewhere in Northern Canada."

"About 83 degrees north latitude and 114 degrees west longitude," Wade answered promptly.

"Right," said Cindy, although she had no way of knowing whether Wade's information was accurate. "And that's not the same location as the geographic North Pole, which is at 90 degrees north latitude." She used her fingers to indicate the two locations on the globe and Ron nodded in comprehension.

"Okay, so the question is still how we get there," Ron said.

"No problem," Wade offered. "I'll call in some favors and arrange transportation."

Cindy shook her head. "No need for that. I already have transportation, but I'm going to need some help with it."

"Excuse me?" Wade asked. "You have a way to get to the north magnetic pole?"

"Well, it's actually Jimmy's rocket. He parked it not too far away from the materials lab and I'm pretty sure I can find it again even though it's invisible right now. The problem is that I'm not a rocket scientist and I'm not exactly sure how to pilot it."

"Okay, time out here," Ron put in. "We're going to fly some twelve-year-old's invisible rocket to the North Pole?"

"You got a problem with that?" Cindy demanded.

"You have to admit it sounds kind of weird," Wade said.

Cindy scoffed. "And I suppose that a teen-age cheerleader saving the world sounds normal?"

"She's got you there, Wade," said Ron. "And you have to admit that most people wouldn't believe that a ten-year-old could do the things you've done."

"True enough." There was a silence on Wade's end as he apparently thought things over. Finally he spoke again. "Okay, Cindy, I think I can help out there. If you can show me the rocket, I think I can figure out the controls for you and fly you there."

"You're coming along with us?" Ron asked in surprise.

"Just head to the materials lab and wait for me to get there."

"Will do, Wade," Ron said. "Thanks for the assist."

"No problem. Wade out." There was a click from the speaker as the line went dead and Ron shut the phone off.

"Okay, let's roll," said Ron.

It didn't take long for the two of them to get back to the materials lab, although during the walk Ron seemed unusually excited at the prospect of Wade meeting them. "What's the big deal?" Cindy finally asked him.

"No one I know has ever met Wade in person," Ron explained. "Not even Kim. All we've ever done is talk on the phone or through the Kim-municator or over the Internet. This is like meeting someone you've heard about all your life but never thought you would."

"Like Santa Claus?"

"Well…yeah. Or maybe Snowman Hank. Except I'm Jewish so Wade is more interesting in a lot of ways than either of them."

"I'm here," a voice announced.

Ron nearly jumped in surprise and excitement. "Wade? Is that you?"

"Yeah."

"Where are you?" Cindy asked, peering into the darkness in the direction of the voice.

"Down here."

Ron and Cindy looked down and were surprised to see a small box with wheels rolling towards them. Ron picked it up and studied it carefully. "Oh man, Wade," he said in undisguised disappointment. "Not a remote again. I thought you'd be showing up in person this time. I mean, this is important. The bad guys have Kim!"

"And Jimmy," Cindy added.

"Yeah, I know," came Wade's voice from the box. "But I think I can be a lot more useful to both of you back here at home base. Plus, this will save weight in the rocket."

"Well, I can't argue with that. Where's the rocket, Cindy?"

"This way." Cindy led Ron, who carried the metal box, to the approximate location where Jimmy had landed the Strato XL. Cindy moved forward cautiously, her hands groping in the darkness for the cloaked ship, while Ron walked forward almost indifferently. "It should be somewhere around here," Cindy said.

"Too bad your friend didn't leave you –" Ron began to say, but finished with a yelp as he tumbled head over heels and landed flat on his back on the ground. "Found it," he said feebly.

Cindy hurried over. "Are you all right?"

"I think so," Ron answered as he sat up. He was not quite fully up when his head struck something and he flopped backwards again. "Cancel that. I'm in serious pain."

"Oh, yeah," Rufus chirped in sympathy from Ron's pocket.

Cindy gingerly put her hand out and felt the air. "You must have hit the starboard stabilizer." She began feeling her way forward towards the cockpit. "Getting this ship de-cloaked is going to be a problem. First, I can't see the controls. Second, even if I could I wouldn't know which one to use."

Ron sat very slowly up, keeping his hands in front of him to prevent another collision. "Like I was saying, it's too bad your friend didn't leave you one of those remote controls like some people have for their car alarms."

"Wait a minute. I do have something." Cindy dropped her backpack to the ground and produced the Omnispecs. "Jimmy cloaked this ship from visible light, but maybe I can see it using some other wavelength." She donned and activated the device, using it to slowly scan through the electromagnetic spectrum as Ron looked on with growing curiosity. Suddenly Cindy gave a cry of triumph. "Got it! Apparently the field doesn't extend to the far ultraviolet region."

"Could I have a look at those?" asked Wade. Cindy obliged by removing the Omnispecs and holding them. As she did so a flexible telescopic extension with a camera lens at the end emerged from the remote to examine the invention. A low whistle came from the remote. "Sweet. How did he provide for wideband conduction of the electromagnetic frequencies through the collection and focusing elements without selective attenuation? I don't suppose that you have the assembly drawings or schematics for this, do you?"

"I don't even have a user's manual," Cindy replied.

"Too bad. I'll have to ask him later." Getting back to business Wade continued, "Okay, Cindy. Hold the Omnispecs so that I can look at the controls inside." Cindy did so and Wade commented, "Not bad. A little simplistic, but the controls seem straightforward enough. That has to be the variable thrust lever, and those look like turbine actuator and RPM controls. Wait a minute. Why would a rocket have a turbine? And are those actually atomic battery power level indicators? And why –"

Ron broke in. "Could you maybe find the control to turn off the cloaking field before someone gets a concussion?"

"What?" Wade sounded startled and then apologetic. "Sorry. But I have got to compare notes with Jimmy when we find him. Pan to the right, Cindy." Cindy swiveled the Omnispecs to the right until Wade said, "Hold it. Okay, there's the button to shut off the cloaking device."

"How can you be sure, Wade?" Ron asked. "I mean, there must be dozens of buttons and switches."

"Because it says, 'CLOAKING CONTROL' on it," Wade replied patiently. "Cindy, reach in with your hand and move it to the right side of the control panel." Cindy did as Wade asked. "Okay, a little more. Now down. Okay, push the button that your index finger is on." Cindy did so and with a slight hum the Strato XL shimmered into existence.

Ron eyed it doubtfully. "This is supposed to get us to the North Pole?" He shook his head. "It looks like some kind of amusement park ride."

Cindy felt a strong urge to defend the craft that had voyaged through the solar system and beyond but held her tongue, deciding that Ron would quickly change his tune once the ship was underway. Without a word she shut off the Omnispecs and replaced them in her backpack and then hoisted the pack into the cockpit before climbing into the front seat. "You coming?" she asked Ron as she buckled herself in.

Ron looked at Rufus, who had poked his head out to survey the little rocket. The naked mole rat shook his head, clucking. Ron sighed. "I know, Rufus, but she claims that it'll fly. We may as well give it a try and have Wade arrange something else if it doesn't work." He climbed into the back seat and strapped himself in as Rufus zippered himself back in Ron's pocket.

Wade studied the instruments carefully through the remote's camera. "Okay, Cindy, first thing is to power up the ship. Try flipping those two toggles in the center of the control panel."

Cindy did so, and as the needles on the atomic battery power level indicators swung to the right. "Atomic batteries to power," she murmured.

"Now, press that button marked 'ENGINE START'."

A low whine became audible and rose in pitch as Cindy complied. On the control panel the indicator on the meter marked 'TURBINE RPM' pointed to a dark line reading 'NOMINAL'. "Turbines to speed."

"Okay, I think we're set," Wade's voice said. "Hold that joystick in front of you with your right hand. Pull back to go up, push forward to go down, and move it left or right to go in that direction."

"Hey, wait a minute!" said Ron. "That sounds like one of my video games. Real rockets don't work like that. They have retrorockets, and onboard flight computers, and…"

Wade ignored him. "That lever on your left should vary the thrust. Move it down to go faster, and back up again to slow down. Just don't slow down too much or we'll stall." He drew a deep breath. "Ready when you are."

Cindy grasped the controls. "Beginning countdown. Five…four…three…"

"Just how fast does this actually go?" asked Ron.

Cindy shrugged. "Good question. Two…one…blastoff!" She pulled the thrust lever down and the joystick back simultaneously, and the Strato XL moved easily forward and lifted smoothly into the night sky. Ron settled back, feeling somewhat blasé about the mild takeoff. He sat upright again as Cindy said, "Okay, let's see what she's got." This was Cindy's first opportunity to pilot the rocket and she felt like a child with a new toy. The mischievous side of her also wanted to teach Ron a little lesson for belittling Jimmy's rocket. With a wide grin she slammed the thrust control all the way down. Immediately she and Ron were slammed back into their padded seats as the ship blasted forward through and far beyond the sound barrier. Cindy was speechless from the exhilaration of the raw power under her control, while Ron felt suitably cowed by the experience of supersonic flight. Wade, experiencing the flight somewhat more objectively through the vantage point of his video monitor, was the first to speak.

"Man," he crowed, "I have got to get me one of these!"

End of Chapter 9


	10. Part 10 Flies in the Wall

Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 10:

"Where are they?" Drakken grumbled irritably. He had been pacing ever since Beautiful had been sent to fetch Jimmy, and after waiting thirty minutes his anticipation had soured into impatience. "Calamitous, why hasn't your daughter returned yet?"

Calamitous merely shrugged, more interested at the moment in a panel of monitoring instruments than Drakken's questioning. "Well, you know how women are. They're never on time. Probably stopped to talk with your assistant about clothes or hair or men or some such silly thing."

"Not likely. I don't think I've ever seen Shego in another outfit or with another hairstyle. In fact, she's told me to button my lip whenever she even thinks I'm suggesting anything of the kind." He thought bit more and frowned. "Do you suppose that our guests have somehow gotten away?"

"If anything had gone wrong we'd have heard an alarm. Besides, girls can be a bit flighty at times."

"Maybe your daughter is like that. But my Shego is a model of disciplined obedience and efficiency. When I tell her to do something, she does it with no mucking about."

Professor Calamitous looked up at this, blinking behind his thick glasses. "Really? What about when you told her to bring you something to drink this morning?"

Drakken looked sullen. "That's different."

"I believe," Calamitous went on, relishing the moment, "that she said she was your right-hand assistant and not some empty-headed secretary hired to run your mindless errands."

"She's a very complex person. And she got the coffee, didn't she?"

"Oh, yes," Calamitous replied, turning back to the monitor panel. "Pity she threw it at you instead of pouring it into a cup." He chuckled at the memory. "Disciplined obedience, indeed."

Drakken refused to take this lying down. "And what about your daughter? All the way back whining about how she didn't really want to be doing this and how all she ever really wanted was to be a –"

"That childish dream is over and done with!" Calamitous declared, scuttling up to confront Drakken face-to-face. "Just because she has some regrets doesn't mean she's disobedient or that I don't know how to get results. You seem to forget, Doctor, just whose plan this is."

"I have not. How could I forget my own plan?" Drakken replied smugly.

"Your plan? It was my idea to construct the hypermagnetic generator!" Calamitous spluttered.

"Yes, the magnet was your idea. But your silly plan was to use it to pull satellites out of orbit, or pull ships onto shoals to wreck and salvage them. It was my brilliant plan to use it for Operation X."

Unbeknownst to either of the two bickering men there were two young people behind one of the room's ventilator grills who were listening intently to every word. After escaping from their jailers Kim had suggested that she and Jimmy use the air ducts to move unseen through the secret complex. She had given Jimmy a boost up to an overhead ventilator outlet and then swung easily up herself, leaving Jimmy to again wonder how she was capable of performing such gymnastic feats so effortlessly. Once inside the airshaft Kim and Jimmy had quickly determined that the installation was laid out in the form of a series of concentric rings and Kim had concluded that the most important areas were in the center. Jimmy had concurred and they had worked their way towards the center of the installation. It was not long before they had heard Drakken and Calamitous talking and had followed the sound to the opening behind which they were now crouching. Much of the discussion had been uninformative bickering but as the talk turned to the two scientists' plan Jimmy leaned forward in anticipation, gently squeezing Kim's hand to signal her to listen carefully as well.

"Operation X!" Calamitous sneered. "It sounds like a bad…um…um…"

"Idea? Plan? Movie?" suggested Drakken.

"Yes! Movie! You know, like the ones where the evil scientist and his assistant are lurking in a secret laboratory, chuckling evilly about a far-fetched plot to destroy the world while the heroes are searching for a way to overcome the odds and defeat them."

Drakken compared their present situation with Calamitous' description. "What's your point?" he asked at last.

"Well, none I suppose. But it seems so cliché," Calamitous replied.

Drakken threw up his arms in disgust. "All right, so you come up with a name for my plan to selectively nullify Earth's magnetic field."

Kim didn't like the sound of that, and from the way Jimmy suddenly stiffened she deduced that Jimmy didn't either. _Considering that he's a genius_, she thought, _it has to be a lot worse for him to not like what Operation X is_. She wanted to ask Jimmy what nullifying the magnetic field would do but he was still absorbed in the discussion going on below.

"How about Operation Nullifier?"

"Too vague. And not sinister enough." Drakken gave an evil chortle. "Just think of it, Professor. With the magnetic field gone Earth will be at our mercy. No more protection from cosmic rays…"

Calamitous seemed to get into the spirit. "Communications disrupted…"

"Environmental disaster on a global scale…"

"Hundreds of Acorn Lads lost in the woods with useless compasses…"

"Millions of people –" Drakken broke off and gave Calamitous a suspicious stare. "Are you mocking me?"

"Me? Of course not."

"See that you don't." Drakken scowled. "I get enough of the mocking from Shego."

Calamitous rubbed his hands in glee. "Mocking? Certainly not. I despise the Acorn Lads. Sanctimonious little twerps. Didn't finish their infantile initiation, did I? Well, who's laughing now, Troop Leader? _Who's laughing now?_" He began to guffaw, and Drakken quickly joined in with his own maniacal laughter. Jimmy had heard enough and headed back down the duct with Kim to discuss out of earshot of Drakken and Calamitous what they had learned.

Kim spoke first. "Was what they were talking about possible?"

"In theory. With the power of that magnet they could neutralize or disrupt the magnetic field with an opposing field. If they phase the interference correctly they could nullify the entire field, or just parts of it."

"That sounds bad."

"It is. No one knows what all would actually happen if the magnetic field were gone, but at the least the level of solar and cosmic radiation would drastically increase. The magnetic field shields the Earth from most of it, but without it anything or anyone without special protection would be destroyed." Jimmy frowned. "No doubt they wanted to use us as guinea pigs. That means the magnet is nearly ready to go on-line."

"Jimmy…" Kim began.

"I know what you're going to say," Jimmy interrupted. "We have to find the magnet and destroy it. And we have to contact B.T.S.O. or Global Justice to shut this place down."

"Well, actually," Kim answered, "I was going to say that you can let go of my hand now."

Jimmy realized with a start that he was still holding Kim's hand and hastily let go. Blushing deeply he stammered, "Ah…sorry about that…I wasn't…my mind was…"

"Hey, no big," Kim answered easily. "We both had a lot to think about. But you're right. We have to contact someone to shut this place down."

"Is your Kim-municator working now?"

Kim activated the device and began speaking. "Wade, Kim here. Do you copy?" There was no answer and she shut the device off with a sigh. "No luck. Either this place is shielded or something is interfering with the signal."

"Or both. Although Calamitous has enough trouble finishing one thing, much less two. I'd guess that we have Drakken to thank for whatever is going on." Jimmy looked unusually thoughtful. "I don't get it."

"Get what?"

"Well, you and I are different, and yet we seem to work together pretty well. But Calamitous and Drakken are a lot alike, and yet they don't seem to get along at all."

Kim smiled. "Harmony of opposites."

Despite, or perhaps because of, his intellect some concepts were difficult for Jimmy to absorb. "Huh?"

"Harmony of opposites. Philosophy of complements. Synergy. It's a zen-type thing that comes up in martial arts." Kim took her two hands, moved them together, and interlocked her fingers. "Just because things are different or even opposite doesn't mean they cancel out. They can each compensate for what the other is lacking. It allows the whole to be greater than the sum of the parts."

Jimmy nodded. "I think I see. Whereas because Professor Calamitous and Doctor Drakken are so similar they're constantly competing and getting in each other's way." He sighed. "Cindy and I are a lot like that, I think."

Even with the safety of the world at stake Kim was intrigued. "Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, she's smart in a lot of ways to and it seems that we're always at odds with each other. And yet she's different, too. It's very confusing."

"Trust me, it will get a lot more confusing before it gets clearer," Kim assured Jimmy as she thought back about her previous infatuation with Josh Mankey. "Or so my parents says. They have a pretty good track record over the years, though, so I'm betting that someday it will all make sense." She looked around. "But for now I think we'd better get moving before things get worse."

Before Jimmy could agree a loud klaxon began to blare while a mechanical voice intoned, "Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Prisoners have escaped. All personnel to be on the lookout. Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Prisoners have escaped. All personnel to be on the lookout. Intruder alert…"

As the automated alarm continued to sound Jimmy gave Kim a resigned look. "I think it's worse."

End of Chapter 10


	11. Part 11 Unexpected Company

Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 11:

In the control room Shego and Beautiful had joined Drakken and Calamitous. Calamitous seemed vexed by the recent turn of events but Drakken was fuming over Kim's and Jimmy's escape and found it difficult to express himself. At last Drakken mastered his rage enough to speak.

"How could you let this happen, Shego?" he raged. "I was in the middle of a perfectly good gloat, and then this happens. Do you know just how annoying that can be?"

"Let me think," Shego answered in a bored voice. "Kim has only done this to you a couple dozen times now, so I guess I can imagine –"

A strangled growl from Drakken cut her short. "How did this happen?" he demanded when his complexion had faded from a dangerous shade of purple to its usual blue.

"Well, she's a world-class heroine –" Shego began.

"- and he's a super-genius –" Beautiful added.

"- so I guess your containment unit wasn't as up to the challenge as you'd thought," concluded Shego.

"Impossible!" Calamitous insisted. "I designed that cell myself to be escape-proof. There is no way out."

"Well, they found one," said Beautiful. "Then, after Shego got locked in the cell –"

"What a minute," Drakken interrupted. "Shego got locked in the cell? If it's escape-proof then how did she get back out?"

One of Shego's hands glowed with emerald energy and she raised one eyebrow in answer. Calamitous shook his head. "I don't believe that. I spent over one hundred man-hours designing those walls to be impervious to virtually anything."

Shego rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, next time you should spend a little more time working on the floors."

That remark made Calamitous squirm a bit. "I was planning to," he said weakly. "But I never got around to it. I mean, first it was tax-filing time, then I had some revenge to exact on Retroville, and the next thing you know it's the start of the holiday season…"

Drakken cut him off with a disgusted grunt. "Then what?" he asked.

Beautiful was happy to shift as much blame to Shego as possible. "As I was saying, after Shego got herself locked in the cell Jimmy pulled a sneak attack on me while I was finishing off Kim."

"Yeah," Shego said, happy to return Beautiful's favor, "despite my warning her about him."

"At least it took both of them to take me down instead of just one," Beautiful sneered.

"And at least the smart one thought I was better than you," Shego retorted hotly.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay, green girl, let's finish this!"

"You got it, Precious!"

Once again the two squared off but Drakken and Calamitous stepped between them. "Enough of this!" Calamitous snapped. "This bickering is pointless! It doesn't matter whom they think is better. Besides, it's giving me a headache."

"Exactly! It doesn't matter who either of them think is better." In an aside to Shego Drakken asked, "Did Neutron say whether he thought I was better than Calamitous?" When she shook her head, he looked hurt and went on, "Right. Anyway, we have to find them, and fast." He flipped a switch on a control panel. "Captain of the Guard! Find Possible and Neutron and bring them to the test chamber in fifteen minutes!"

A voice from the speaker replied, "We're looking, sir, but I'm not sure we can find them that fast."

"You'd better," Drakken snarled. "Unless, of course, you're volunteering for our live subject testing."

There was the sound of the guard at the other end of the connection swallowing hard. "We'll find them, sir."

"See that you do. Drakken out." He snapped the switch back with a grunt and muttered, "What else can go wrong?"

At that moment the klaxon began to blare again and the mechanical voice said, "Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Unidentified craft passing outer marker. Defensive response advised. Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Unidentified craft passing outer marker. Defensive response advised. Intruder alert…"

"Oh, come on!" Drakken wailed to no one in particular as Calamitous shut off the alarm. "I was just asking!"

Calamitous studied the installation's tracking system and shook his head. "Whatever it is, it's coming in fast. There are only three sub-orbital vehicles that can maneuver at anywhere near that that speed."

"And those would be…?" asked Shego, who was curious in spite of the situation.

"One is the SR-71 Blackbird. The second is the top-secret Aurora experimental hypersonic vehicle. And the third is Neutron's Strato XL." He studied the screen again. "And from the Mach numbers I'm betting that it's the Strato XL."

"But Neutron is somewhere inside the complex," Beautiful protested. "How could it be his rocket?"

"It's probably his girlfriend and the buffoon." Drakken decided. "Possible's cyber-friend is probably helping them pilot the thing."

Calamitous' right index finger hovered over a red button. "We can still eliminate them before they get any closer." He chuckled evilly. "Fast as they are, there's no way they can avoid my surface-to-air missile."

Beautiful looked puzzled. "I thought that was supposed to be a surface-to-surface missile."

"It was," Calamitous admitted. "But I never got around to finishing the second half of the trajectory calculations, so…"

Drakken thought about it and shook his head. "No. Let them get here and we'll capture them. They'll make excellent test subjects for Operation X and they're no real threat."

Shego sounded unconvinced. "That's what you said about Possible and Neutron."

"Are you volunteering to be a test subject?" Drakken glared.

"Capture them it is," Shego replied with false enthusiasm.

"It appears that they'll be landing about a mile or so south of here," Calamitous announced. "Daughter dear, it is a bit chilly out. Why don't you and some of the henchmen go and prepare a warm welcome for when they arrive?"

Beautiful gave a venomous smile. "I'd be happy to."

As she left Drakken rubbed his hands in glee. "Excellent! It looks like Operation X is back on schedule. This plan will be totally off the heezie."

Shego waved her hands in protest. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Just what exactly is a 'heezie'?"

"It's a…" Drakken stumbled as he pantomimed various shapes and sizes with his hands. "It's kind of like…when you take a…" He gave up and shook his head in disgust. "It's too complicated to explain now. Besides, we have work to do." He turned to a console and began adjusting knobs and flipping switches.

Shego nodded her head sardonically. "Right." She leaned back and watched as Drakken and Calamitous continued their preparations.

"Coil temperature at one-tenth Kelvin and holding," announced Calamitous.

"Generator voltages at nominal," Drakken added.

"Phasing stable at 6.28 megarads per second."

"Power curve at optimum."

"Core saturation within design parameters."

"Flux variance less than 10 microWebers per square meter."

"All systems are go and all parameters within specification," Drakken concluded in satisfaction. "Operation X is ready for final testing." He did a little victory dance. "Admit it, Shego. Who da men?"

Shego sighed but played along. "You da men," she answered, wishing that Drakken would stop using that sort of language. Calamitous at least was behaving with the professional decorum that she expected from an evil scientist bent on world domination.

"Word that." Drakken threw back his head in triumph. "Nothing can stop us now!"

Despite Drakken's enthusiasm Shego remained as impassive as ever, having reached this point in her employer's failed schemes many times before and not forgetting that Kim and Jimmy were still on the loose. _Wanna bet?_ she thought.

End of Chapter 11

Author's Notes:

One of the great things about both the Jimmy Neutron and Kim Possible shows is how the villains can be both ominous and yet hysterically inept at the same time, and how everyone, both adversaries and assistants alike take it all in stride. It's the supporting characters like these that keep the shows fresh and hopefully move these stories along.


	12. Part 12 Who Will Rescue the Rescuers?

Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 12:

At this time of year everything north of the 70th parallel was in perpetual shadow as the Northern Hemisphere moved deeper into its winter season. Despite the darkness Cindy managed to pilot the Strato XL to a smooth if somewhat nerve-wracking landing, aided in part by Wade providing instructions through the remote unit and Ron using Jimmy's lantern for a landing light. Once down Ron and Cindy scrambled out of the rocket onto the frozen ice field, shivering from the arctic chill. Ron was the first to speak.

"You know, I really don't think you should have called that Air Canada pilot an air hog," he commented to Cindy.

Cindy was in no mood for criticism. "Hey, he was lumbering along at 400 knots and cut me off without signaling. What did he expect me to do?"

"Well, I admit that I'm no expert on aeronautics," Ron replied, "but I don't think they have turn signals on airliners."

"They should have," Cindy grumped. "I think poor Rufus fainted when I banked so hard to avoid a collision."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh," Rufus squeaked.

Ron shone the lantern in various directions but saw nothing of particular interest in any of them. "Wade! Any suggestions on where to head now?" he said to the remote in his other hand.

"No problems," Wade replied. "I'm tracking you on GPS and you're about half a mile geographically south of Target Zero. Turn to your left and head straight from there."

"Are you sure that's Target Zero?" Cindy asked as they began walking. Thanks to the cold the going over the surface was fairly easy as the snow and ice was frozen hard with no soft spots to sink into or wade through.

"I can't be absolutely certain," Wade answered. "But the sensors are picking up some faint electromagnetic signals. If we get closer we might be able to communicate with Kim. Assuming she has the Kim-municator and hasn't given up on reaching us."

Ron scoffed. "Kim giving up? That'll be the day." He suddenly shivered violently. "I didn't think it could ever be this cold," he said, pulling the jacket he had brought along closer about him.

"It would be worse with a wind," Cindy observed. She was dressed only slightly more heavily than Ron and she was shivering as well. Walking was helping keep them warm, but she knew that they needed to get out of the cold soon as neither were properly attired for prolonged arctic exposure. "Hopefully we won't have any problems getting inside Drakken's lair, and –"

"I think I can promise you that," a voice ahead said. "In fact, I'd say you really don't have much of a choice." Into the circle of light cast by the lantern in Ron's hand walked Beautiful Gorgeous, wearing a parka and wicked smile. "Unless, that is, you want to stay out here and freeze to death."

"There's another choice," Cindy spat. She suddenly somersaulted over Ron and began a vicious combination and kicks and punches against Beautiful. Although surprised by the onslaught Cindy's intended target quickly recovered and blocked or dodged all of Cindy's attacks. After a short time Cindy fell back, panting from the exertion of her valiant but futile efforts. Beautiful relaxed her own stance somewhat and nodded in grudging admiration.

"Not bad," she admitted. "But there's a couple things you need to know."

"And those are?" Cindy asked, waiting to get her second wind.

"First, I know anything you do about hand-to-hand combat in the martial arts, so you and your monkey kung fu friend together couldn't even hope to beat me."

"And second?"

In answer Beautiful put her fingers to her lips and whistled. Like malevolent genies from some hidden lamp ominous forms with lethal-looking weapons materialized from the darkness. As Ron and Cindy re-evaluated their situation Beautiful smiled. "Not that I'd personally care if my trigger-happy cohorts decided to take care of things their way, but Daddy and Drakken said that they want the buffoon and Neutron's girlfriend brought in unharmed."

Ron was irked by the reference. "I am not a buffoon!" he snapped.

Beautiful cooly arched one eyebrow. "So you're Neutron's girlfriend?"

"Buffoon it is," Ron conceded unhappily.

Cindy thought furiously as Beautiful and the henchmen accompanying her prepared to take her and Ron into charge. Her idea was only a chance in more ways than one, she knew, but under the circumstances she didn't have many options. "Nice one, Ron," she said bitterly. "Leading us into a trap in this remote place." She emphasized the last two words slightly.

Ron looked puzzled. "What? I didn't –"

"Just _drop it_, okay?"

Ron looked puzzled at Cindy's outburst although their adversaries showed no reaction as they began securing Cindy's hands behind her. _Remote place? Drop it?_ he thought as Cindy stared silently at him. Then the words came together and his eyes widened slightly. As the henchmen moved towards Ron to tie his hands as well, he turned slightly to move the hand holding Wade's remote out of sight and flipped it into the blackness behind him. He couldn't be sure where it would land or how well the darkness would conceal it, but took hope in the fact that all the light sources were in front of him and that everything behind him was in shadow.

After Ron and Cindy were securely bound Beautiful nodded in satisfaction. "Back to the base," she ordered, and the group began moving in the direction that Wade had directed Cindy and Ron to go. As they walked Cindy wished that she could somehow speak with Ron, but their captors were taking no chances. She had made sure to separate them so that several henchmen were between the two as they walked, making any private conversations impossible. She could only hope that Wade had been monitoring the situation and was already contacting the authorities now that Drakken's and Calamitous' location had been confirmed. Or had it?

"Nice place for a hideout," Cindy, who was closest to Beautiful, commented.

The woman shrugged. "Not my choice. This is where Drakken and my father wanted to set up their big project."

__

Bingo! thought Cindy, although she showed no reaction. She hoped they were still close enough for Wade to hear. "If this is where there big project is, why capture us? Why not just get rid of us – like you tried to at that laboratory?"

Beautiful sounded amused. "Are you complaining that we didn't and are bringing you in alive instead?"

"No, no," Ron put in quickly. "No complaints. Alive is good."

"Maybe. Apparently the two big brains are planning some tests and need some live subjects. It might have been easier for both of you if we had shot you down with that missile on your way in."

"Tests?" asked Ron. "What kind of tests?"

"Not really sure," Beautiful admitted. "Apparently this is the first time a magnet this powerful has been built and both Drakken and my father are curious as to how it and what they do to the Earth's magnetic field with it will affect people." She sounded almost thoughtful. "I wouldn't mind seeing that myself. I wonder if the test chamber has an observation deck or something."

As Beautiful finished speaking they came to a ramp cut into the ice and snow that sloped gently downward for some hundred yards before ending an imposing set of steel doors secured by a keypad. Beautiful removed her thick glove to work the small buttons with her fingers and the doors slid open before her with a slight hiss, releasing a flow of warm air that engulfed them all. Despite their dire circumstances Ron and Cindy hurried into the warm environs, glad to be out of the frigid air. It was only when the massive doors shut behind them with a clang that the oppressive weight of the situation again settled over the two. As Ron and Cindy looked at each other a single thought crossed their mind: _Could Wade help them in time?_

Outside Wade had been working on just that as soon as the group had begun to move away from the remote, but as he activated the device's mobility circuits even he was surprised to discover he had unexpected help. A familiar chirping filled the speakers of his communications link.

"Rufus!" Wade called. "Is that you?"

"Uh-huh, uh-huh!" the naked mole rat squeaked back.

"It sounds like they got the drop on Ron and Cindy. They need help and fast, right?" Another affirmative from Rufus came over the speakers. Wade's fingers immediately began to fly over his keyboard. "Okay, then. Let's see what kind of cavalry we've got here." After a few seconds of frenzied typing he let out a groan of disappointment.

"Trouble?" Rufus grunted.

"'Fraid so," Wade replied. "There's plenty of help to send, but you're so far away that it will be at least a couple hours before any of it can arrive." His voice took on a dismal tone. "It looks like we're the cavalry this time. And if we can get the remote inside the base, the shielding will cut me off from communicating with the remote like it did with Kim and Jimmy. You'd be on your own unless you can somehow manage to hook up with the others. It doesn't sound very good."

Rufus didn't waste a second in deciding. He leaped on the remote and straddled it like a horse, pointing in the direction Ron and Cindy had been taken. "Charge!" he squeaked.

End of Chapter 12


	13. Part 13 Meanwhile

Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 13:

Wade's small remote, with Rufus sitting astride it, rolled like a small tank down the ramp leading to the hidden installation. When it reached the thick metal doors it stopped and extended its camera lens to study the keypad. Rufus scampered up the flexible shaft and eyed the mechanism suspiciously as Wade manipulated various image-enhancement controls.

"We're in luck, Rufus," he announced. "Thermal imaging is picking up six keys that have been recently pressed. That limits the number of combinations we need to try. The bad news is that it will still take a little while to run through them and hit the right access code." He did some quick mental calculations. "For a 6-digit code there will be 720 different possibilities and if you can enter one possibility per second that gives an average access time of six minutes. That assumes, of course, that each key was only pressed once so that there are no duplicate keypresses. If that's the case, we're stuck."

Rufus made noise of protest, wrapping his forelegs around himself and shivering.

"Sorry. I mean you're stuck. Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Rufus grunted.

Wade took a deep breath. "Okay. Here are the keys to press…"

While Rufus and Wade tackled the lock Cindy and Ron were being escorted by Beautiful to a holding cell, much like the one that had been used to hold Jimmy and Kim. Having nothing better to do Cindy offered some personal observations.

"You know," she mused, "considering all the money it must have taken to build this place it seems that Calamitous and Drakken could have just invested the money and retired in the Bahamas or something."

Beautiful let out a snort of disgust. "Don't even get me started. With my father it's always millions for world conquest, but not one penny for a raise in allowance in twelve years. Just try telling him that movies aren't two-fifty a seat anymore and that gasoline is over two dollars a gallon now."

"Must be tough," Ron offered.

"Tough is putting it mildly. You try impressing somebody by treating him to dinner at McSpanky's Burger Factory. Just see if you ever get his phone number or asked out by him again."

"That sounds kind of shallow to me," Cindy said, feeling indignant in spite of the identity of the speaker.

"Well, there's also the trying to kill them," Beautiful added slowly. "Most of the guys I meet are usually secret agents or military operatives out to stop my father. That might be a factor." She confronted Ron. "You! The buffoon! Would my trying to kill you keep you from wanting to date me?"

"I guess that would depend on a couple things," Ron answered.

"Like what?"

"Like whether you'd keep referring to me as 'the buffoon' and how successful you were at killing me."

By this time they had reached the holding cell and Beautiful dropped the force field to let Ron and Cindy in. "Good questions," Beautiful said, looking thoughtful. "I'll get back to you on that…if you're still around when I come up with the answers."

"I can hardly wait," Ron deadpanned as Beautiful re-activated the force field. He headed to the bench against the back wall and dropped into it, squirming a bit as he tried to make himself comfortable with his hands tied behind him. Cindy joined him.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Well," he replied, "I don't know if it will work here, but I have a standard tactic that usually proves very effective in these kind of situations."

Cindy looked about them. "You might as well try it. We have nothing to lose."

"Okay," Ron agreed. At the top of his voice he yelled, "Kim! Help!"

Not too surprisingly nothing happened, except that Beautiful called back, "Hey, keep it quiet in there! I'm working on those answers."

Cindy slumped further down onto the bench. "My hero," was all she said.

Back outside Rufus continued with his efforts to unlock the doors using the code combinations that Wade was systematically passing him. Despite the bitter cold Rufus worked with a will, pressing the keys as fast as the numbers came to him. Finally, on the 417th try, there came a click, a hiss, and a welcome wave of warm air as the doors slid apart. Rufus slid down the camera extension with a yodel of triumph and resumed his perch on the remote.

"Good job, Rufus," Wade complimented the naked mole rat as the remote. "Do you remember how to work the manual controls to get around?"

"Oh, yeah," the rodent chirped back. He pressed several buttons on the remote, causing it to lurch wildly and speed backwards until Wade overrode the controls and brought the remote to a screeching halt.

"Are you sure?" Wade demanded as he deftly rolled the remote back to the doors.

"Sorry," Rufus apologized. He scrutinized the controls again and pressed some other buttons, more cautiously this time. The remote rolled smoothly forward and came to a halt just outside the open doors as Rufus pressed another button.

'That's better." Wade heaved a troubled sigh. Sending Rufus inside alone was not his first choice, but Kim and Jimmy were missing in action and Ron and Cindy were definitely in need of immediate help. "Okay, buddy, this is it. Once inside you should be able to contact Kim if she has her Kim-municator with her. Good luck."

Having no better reply ready Rufus snapped Wade a salute and rolled the remote into the installation. From the remote he could hear Wade's fading voice telling him that he was losing the signal from the remote, followed by silence. Once inside Rufus studied the open doors and thought briefly about some way to close them. As he could find no obvious means of doing so he shrugged and drove off, deciding that it was not his concern. He had more important things to do.

After several minutes of driving Rufus had become quite skilled at operating the surprisingly speedy and agile device. This newly-acquired proficiency proved to be quite useful on numerous occasions, as he found himself zipping around corners and into various nooks to avoid the armed security personnel patrolling the complex. He had no idea where he was going, but reasoned that the more security he encountered the closer he was to something important. He could only hope that Ron and Cindy, or Kim and Jimmy, would be among those important things.

At that moment Kim and Jimmy had succeeded in making their way further into the installation. Ron's and Cindy's arrival had provided enough of a distraction to the installation's security for them to move through the hallways and make better time than they would have made by crawling through the ventilation ducts. From time to time a pair of startled guards would find themselves in their way, and several seconds later they would both be sleeping peacefully at Kim's feet. Jimmy still couldn't figure out how Kim was able to so effortlessly pull off maneuvers that had so baffled him during his training with Cindy. In many ways Kim reminded him of Cindy, but in other ways she was unlike any other girl he had ever met.

The thought of Cindy filled him with conflicting emotions. The idea that Calamitous and Drakken would even dare think of hurting her filled him with cold rage, but his growing preoccupation with Kim wracked him with a guilt that he could neither understand nor explain. These two emotions combined to create in turn yet a third: complete and utter confusion. If he had spoken with Kim about it she might have been able to clarify things for him, but the mere thought of discussing his feelings with her overwhelmed him with panic. In any case, this was hardly the time or place. He was so absorbed in sorting out his thoughts that he completely missed what Kim whispered to him and ran right into her.

"What?' he asked, backing up.

"I said, this looks like the place," Kim told him quietly, pointing to a door that barred their way. On the door was a white sign with black and red lettering that read: INTENSE ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS. DO NOT ENTER. Kim looked expectantly at him. "You're the resident expert. What do we do now?"

Jimmy opened his backpack, glad to have something specific to concentrate on, and removed a device that appeared to be an electric toothbrush with a miniature windvane on the top and a small digital display on the side. After passing the device in front of the door several times he shook his head. "I don't pick up anything other than ordinary 60 Hz line emissions," he announced. "I'd say the electromagnet is shut down at the moment and that it's safe for us to go in."

Kim studied the door and keypad. "Unfortunately I didn't have any tools for breaking and entering with me when I started out on this assignment. I'm not sure that I know how to get in."

"Maybe I do." Jimmy began removing the keypad next to the door and pulled a device from his backpack that looked remarkably like a calculator.

"Universal access code generator?" Kim asked as Jimmy connected a cable between his device and the partially-disassembled keypad.

"Calculator," Jimmy replied. "But it's just a useful in a pinch." He began pressing keys on the front of the device. "What I'm doing is –"

"- sending every possible combination of passcodes to the device, causing the door to unlock when the correct code is received," Kim concluded.

Jimmy shook his head. "Actually, that kind of indiscriminate hacking of a high-security area could very easily trigger an automatic lockdown. That would probably work on the front door, but I'm not chancing it here."

"So what are you doing?" Kim leaned over Jimmy's shoulder to see what he was doing.

"Accessing the local communications log to determine what's been sent out to the main system recently." A list of numbers and letters began scrolling up the calculator's display. "And based on a frequency analysis of patterns this appears to be what we want."

Kim frowned. "Those aren't numbers."

"It's the encrypted form – no respectable system would send passcodes across in clear. Cross your fingers. Either this opens the door or we're going to have a lot of bad-tempered company real soon." Holding his breath, Jimmy pressed a key on his calculator and waited. After what seemed an eternity there was a click and the door slid aside.

"Nice job," Kim commented.

"Thanks," Jimmy replied awkwardly. "But once the calculator was able to negotiate a communications protocol and evaluate the local file format and directory structure it was pretty straightforward."

Kim picked up the device and gave it an admiring look. "Some calculator. Does it do algebra?"

"Basic, linear, non-Euclidean multi-variant, and iso-topological," Jimmy answered. He retrieved the calculator and stowed it in his backpack. "If you need one for your math classes I could build you one."

"Way beyond balancing my checkbook," Kim smiled, and then grew serious. "I guess this is it, Jimmy."

"I guess so," he answered, shouldering his backpack. With Kim taking the lead they passed through the open door and entered the chamber.

End of Chapter 13

Author's Notes:

Some people will undoubtedly object to the simplistic nature of Jimmy's cracking Drakken's and Calamitous' security but I always assume that there's a lot more going on underneath the surface whenever Jimmy does something. One hint of this was when Jimmy referred to the calculator having to negotiate a communications protocol and evaluate the structure of the system he was trying to crack. Since he is a genius I have to believe that he'd be able to attend to all the intricacies of serious hacking without bogging people down with all the details.

Others might object even more strenuously to Jimmy crushing on Kim. If I had met a 15-year-old girl like Kim when I was Jimmy's age I'd have been totally crushing on her. In further defense, I would ask the readers to wait until the end of the story to see what happens before getting too indignant.


	14. Part 14 Three Minute Warning

Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 14:

About the same time that Jimmy and Kim found the door leading to the chamber of the electromagnetic generator Rufus had managed to locate Ron's and Cindy's holding cell. He had learned the wisdom of not rushing into things, and so found a convenient niche in which to hide while attempting to assess the situation. Fortunately for him, but unfortunately for the prisoners, that was not long in coming. A beep came from the console at which Beautiful was sitting and she snapped a switch.

"Detention block," she said.

"Daughter? Is that you?" a voice all-too-familiar to Cindy asked over a speaker.

"Well, considering that there are only two women at this deep-freeze you call a base and one of them is with you, it had better be me."

"Mind your tongue!" Calamitous sternly scolded. "I don't know what it is that makes young people such sass-mouths nowadays."

"Sorry, Daddy," Beautiful apologized, rolling her eyes. "What did you want?"

"We're ready to begin our experiments. Bring one of the…umm…umm…"

"Prisoners? Test subjects? Guinea pigs?" Beautiful suggested.

There was a brief pause at the other end. "No, I think 'victims' is more appropriate. Yes, it definitely sounds more sinister. Bring one of the victims to the test chamber."

Beautiful yawned indifferently. "Which one?"

"Good question. Why don't you just pick one at random and surprise me?"

"Fine. I'll have one there in a few minutes." She closed the connection and advanced on the cell holding Ron and Cindy. "Okay, you heard him. Any volunteers?"

"What exactly would we be volunteering for?" Ron asked, stalling for time.

Beautiful shrugged. "As I said before, I'm not exactly sure. But since you've been downgraded from 'prisoner' to 'victim' I assume it wouldn't be good."

Ron swallowed hard. "In that case, I think I'll pass on volunteering."

"How about you?" Beautiful asked Cindy.

Cindy scoffed at that. "Just because I'm younger doesn't mean I'm stupider."

"Have it your way." She searched her leather jumpsuit for a moment and then frowned in annoyance. "I don't suppose one of you has a coin I can flip? I'm afraid I forgot to design pockets in this thing. Not," she added somewhat bitterly, "that I ever get much money from my father to carry around."

"I think I have a quarter on me," Ron offered.

"Ron!" Cindy yelled, aghast.

"I mean, I had a quarter, but I spent it when I grande-sized my chimirito after school today," Ron hastened to say. "Sorry."

"Not a problem," Beautiful replied. She began pointing back and forth between Ron and Cindy, chanting. "Eeeny, meeny, mynie, moe…"

"Hey, wait a minute!" Cindy protested. "You're deciding our fate with that childish rhyme?"

Beautiful heaved a tired sigh. "I'd be happy to use another childish rhyme if that would make you happy."

"I've always liked 'bubblegum, bubblegum in a dish'," said Ron.

This time Cindy couldn't even voice a protest at Ron's cooperation with Beautiful. _How in the world can Kim Possible 'do anything' with this dolt helping her?_ she wondered.

"That isn't too bad," admitted Beautiful. "But I think I prefer 'one potato, two potato' to that."

"Ooh! Ooh!" Ron called out in excitement. "How about 'engine, engine number nine'?"

Beautiful shook her head. "That part about the train derailing sounds too much like shop talk to me. I think that -"

"Will you please get on with it?" Cindy shouted. "You both…my head is …I can't…"

"Are you feeling okay, Cindy?" Ron asked, looking concerned.

"No," she gasped, hyperventilating. "We're both locked in a cell, and you're helping the person who put us in here decide the best way to pick which of us is going to be subjected to some life-threatening experiment! If you had half a brain you'd be trying to figure out some way to get us both out of here instead of cooperating with this leather-look lousette!"

Beautiful seemed more thoughtful than offended. "Wow," she finally said. "Daddy was right. Young people really are sass-mouths."

"Take it easy, Cindy," Ron said in an attempt to soothe her. "I know that things look bad, but it always works out. Just have a little faith and patience and let things take their course."

If Cindy's hands hadn't been tied behind her back they would have been wrapped around Ron's neck in frustration. _Our lives are in mortal danger and this nitwit is talking about letting things take their course?_ she raged inwardly. She didn't think she had ever been this angry before at even Carl's stupidity. A beep interrupted her thoughts and Beautiful snapped the communications switch.

"Daughter! Where is that victim we asked for? We're all waiting, you know."

"Told you I should have gone," came Shego's voice from the background.

"Oh, no," Drakken's voice said. "We know what happened the last time you two were together. That's not happening this time."

"I'm coming," Beautiful called. "I was just trying to decide which one to bring. I've made my choice now."

"Very well. We'll see you in five minutes at the test chamber. No dilly-dallying, is that clear?"

"Yes, sure, no problem. I'll see you there in five minutes." She switched off the communicator and lowered the force field. "All right, let's go, Goldilocks. We've wasted enough time." She seized Cindy by the scruff of the neck and began to half-push, half-carry her out the cell.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Ron yelled as Beautiful re-activated the force field. "I thought you were going to randomly select one of us!"

"Well, that's the great thing about being flexible with your plans," Beautiful replied. "Besides, you had your chance to volunteer."

"Yeah, thanks a lot, Ron!" Cindy hollered as Beautiful dragged her from the room. "Maybe someday I can return the favor!" Any additional comments she may have had were lost as her voice faded into the distance.

Once he was sure they were alone Ron moved as close to the force field as he dared. "Rufus! You still there?"

The remote trundled into view with the naked mole rat still on top of it. "Uh-huh," he replied.

"I stalled as long as I could after I saw you come through the door," Ron said. "It's a good thing Beautiful didn't see you. Did you get everything that happened?" Rufus nodded and Ron looked grim. "We don't have much time. We have to call Kim."

At that moment Kim and Jimmy were preoccupied in the electromagnetic generator chamber. When they had first entered they had both been stunned, not only by the size of the room but also of the large structure that occupied most of it. The sheer size and complexity of the apparatus had overwhelmed Jimmy in particular.

"So this is the magnet?" Kim had asked.

"Most of it," Jimmy had answered. "That big cylinder running down the middle is the neodymium alloy focussing element, and those four rings spaced around it are the superconducting magnetic induction coils. That latticework holding it all in place must be what they used the beryllium alloy for." He had shaken his head as he paced around it. "I just can't believe the size of this thing. It must be five stories tall."

"Yeah, Drakken would probably need a pretty big refrigerator for this thing," Kim commented.

"It's definitely a lot bigger than I expected."

Something in Jimmy's tone had made Kim feel uneasy. "Well, the bigger they are, the harder they fall, right?"

Jimmy had shaken his head. "I'm not sure I can get it to fall. I don't have any tools big enough or powerful enough to take this thing apart."

"Can't we just unplug it?" Kim had asked him.

Jimmy looked around worriedly. "I don't know. I don't see the gigawatt generators anywhere in here. They're probably buried somewhere underneath here."

Kim had pointed. "What about that cabinet there? It looks like there are power cables running from it to those coils."

Jimmy had investigated the panel and come to a dismal conclusion. "It looks like an auxiliary power panel for fine tuning the induction current. I could reverse the polarity so that it would oppose the main current and partly cancel out the field, but that wouldn't work for long. Once the auxiliary power supply was exhausted the magnet would be back up again."

"So what do you suggest?"

"Well, we could sever the power cables and shut it down, but that would just be temporary and easy for Drakken and Calamitous to repair." Jimmy had begun to pace as he usually did when he was thinking about a particular problem. "Or I could sabotage the liquid helium lines so that the superconducting cables ceased to superconduct, but that wouldn't be hard to fix either. Or if I had time, I could figure out the operating parameters of the design and maybe throw it out of alignment…"

At that moment four musical tones came from the Kim-municator and Kim activated it. "Kim here."

Ron's face appeared on the screen. "Kim!" he called frantically. "Thank heavens!"

"Ron? You're okay?" Kim sounded pleased. "What happened with the bomb at the –"

"No time to explain. Where are you?"

"At Drakken's supermagnet," Kim replied. "And it definitely deserves the name. Why? What's the sitch?"

"It's Cindy," Ron replied. "Beautiful is taking her to some test chamber so that Drakken and Calamitous can try out the magnet on her."

Jimmy felt angry and anxious. "And you didn't try to stop her?"

"Hey, I'm tied up and locked in some cell with a force field for a door," Ron countered defensively. "If it weren't for Wade and Rufus I wouldn't even be talking to you now. The important thing is that Cindy is in major trouble and you've got to help her!"

"When are they running these tests?" Kim asked, her voice taking on a no-nonsense tone.

"I can't see my watch, but Beautiful said something about five minutes, and that was a couple minutes ago."

"I'm on my way," Kim said. "After I get her out –"

"There's no time for that!" Jimmy protested. "You'll never find the test chamber in time. It took us forever just to find this place." He looked around the room in desperation. "We have to shut this thing down and for good."

"How?" Ron asked over the Kim-municator.

"Yes, how?" Kim echoed.

__

Yes, Jimmy thought miserably. _How?_

End of Chapter 14


	15. Part 15 Brain Blast

Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 15:

It wasn't often that Kim found herself stymied. While it was true that, as her Web site proclaimed, she could do anything, she first had to know what to do before she could do it. In sheer frustration at her dilemma she removed the grappling gun from her belt and began surveying the huge magnet for possible points of attack.

"What's happening, Kim?" came Ron's frantic voice over her Kim-municator. "Talk to me!"

"It may not be the perfect solution," Kim replied absently, "but I think I can take out enough of the power cables to –"

"No!" Jimmy interrupted her. "There's got to be a way! Just give me a second!"

"We don't have many left," Kim began but saw that Jimmy wasn't paying attention to her anymore. Instead, his eyes were closed and he seemed almost to be in pain.

"Come on, Jimmy," he was saying. "It's Cindy on the line here, so think. Think! Think!" As Kim looked on in fascination thoughts and memories began flying through Jimmy's mind, merging and combining into new ideas in a process that was somehow more than reason and beyond inspiration.

__

It allows the whole to be greater than the sum of the parts…

What we have should be adequate to strengthen the frame…

You just turn your opponent's strength against him…

"Brain blast!" Jimmy cried, startling Kim. He ran to the auxiliary power panel with Kim following closely behind and began dumping the contents of his backpack on the floor. "They were in here, I know they were," he muttered as he sifted through the contents. "Aha!" He snatched up what looked to Kim to be two flashlight batteries and, using the laser on his watch, began to weld them together into a single unit.

"Uh, Jimmy? Are you okay?" Kim asked hesitantly.

"Just fine." He finished his welding, opened the panel, and began using his watch laser to cut through power cables with surgical precision.

"Just what are you doing?"

"I'm using my energy cells to supplement the auxiliary power," Jimmy replied as he fitted the joined cells in place and welded them to the power cable.

Kim sounded puzzled. "I thought you said that the power could only temporarily cancel out the main power to the magnet."

Jimmy finished his welding and closed the panel. "I'm not canceling out the main power. I'm making the magnet stronger."

"Stronger?" Kim repeated in shock.

"Did he say stronger?" Ron asked.

Jimmy traced the power cables from the panel up to the top of the magnet by eye. "Don't you see? They built this framework just strong enough to handle the magnet's normal field. If we increase the power of the field –"

"- then the field of the magnet will tear it apart," Kim concluded, her face lighting up as Jimmy's idea became clear to her. Then her features clouded again. "But won't Drakken and Calamitous shut the field down when they see what's happening?"

"That's why I have to get up there." Jimmy pointed. "I need to cross-connect the two cables from this panel to those two cables entering that top ring. Once the magnet is turned on, they won't be able turn off again."

Kim spotted where Jimmy was pointing. "Leave that to me." She gave Jimmy her Kim-municator and removed the watch from his wrist almost before Jimmy realized was happening, and then fired her grappling hook into the framework high above them. "Get out of here before the magnet powers up."

"But –" Jimmy started to protest.

"Go!" She depressed the trigger again and seemed to fly towards the superstructure of the magnet as the gun reeled the line in. Not knowing what else to do Jimmy ran to the door of the chamber, but halted just outside and waited anxiously. As the few remaining seconds evaporated Jimmy began fidgeting nervously.

"Come on, Kim," he urged. "Get out of there!"

"Relax," Ron reassured him over the communications link. "Kim can handle herself." He had hardly finished speaking when red lights on the chamber began to flash and a klaxxon began to blare, warning that the magnet was powering up. The door to the chamber also began to slide shut again as automatic safety interlocks engaged. Without thinking of the consequences Jimmy put himself between the door and the frame and strained against the hatch in a futile effort to keep the doorway open. He managed to slow, but not halt, the door's inexorable advance.

"I can't …stop it!" he panted through clenched teeth as his muscles strained against the door's servos. "Shouldn't..have..let her…"

He was interrupted when a lithe figure struck him like human projectile, knocking Jimmy clear of the doorway and sending him sprawling on the floor before rolling gracefully to its feet. The door, unimpeded, slammed closed behind both of them.

"Kim!" Jimmy cried as he got to his feet. "You made it!"

"She can do anything," Ron reminded him.

"Nice watch," Kim commented as she handed it back to Jimmy and retrieved the Kim-muncator. "Does it come in women's styles?"

Jimmy returned the watch to his wrist. "Well, not yet, but if you want –"

"- you can make one for me. Thanks, Jimmy." She frowned. "But right now we have unfinished business to attend to."

"Like getting me out of here," Ron said as Kim and Jimmy headed back down the corridor. "Right, guys? Guys?"

Back in the control room Beautiful had joined the others as Drakken rubbed his hands in glee. "Is the subject in the chamber?" he asked. Beautiful nodded.

"Don't you mean 'victim'?" Shego asked.

Drakken seemed offended. "I'm a scientist, Shego. Maybe Calamitous has victims to torture, but I use subjects in the pursuit of my scientific inquiries."

"Ooh, right," Shego replied with mock respect. "So what scientific inquiry did you have in mind for your subject?"

"Actually, I've always been curious as to how strong a magnetic field it would take to rip the iron from someone's blood cells." He surveyed his control panel. "Okay. Gigawatt generators are online…"

"Magnetic interlocks engaged…" added Calamitous from his station.

"Atomic batteries to power…" Beautiful said.

"Turbines to speed…" Shego continued but cut short her commentary as Drakken and Calamitous glared at the two women. "What?" she asked innocently as Beautiful snickered. "It sounded kind of natural."

"There's nothing natural about it," Drakken snapped. "Only an idiot would have those kind of things in a checklist."

"Can we get on with it?" Calamitous asked.

Beautiful simply rolled her eyes, bored with the proceedings. "Whatever."

"What she said," Shego agreed.

"All right then. Activate magnet!" Following his own instructions he pushed a lever forward and watched anxiously as a bank of indicators turned green. "There, you see, Shego?" he asked in triumph. "And you were worried that Possible and Neutron would somehow stop us."

"It ain't over 'til it's over," was Shego's observation.

Calamitous was calling out numbers. "sixty percent…seventy percent…"

"Once it reaches full power, we'll drop the force field in the test chamber and channel the field so that we can monitor the effects on the subject," Drakken said.

"Eight percent…ninety percent…full power!" As Drakken was about to deactivate the protective forced field about the test chamber Calamitous added, "Wait a minute. That's not right."

Drakken stared at him. "What?"

"One hundred ten percent…one hundred twenty…one hundred thirty…"

Drakken stormed over to verify the numbers that Calamitous was reporting. "One hundred forty…one hundred fifty…." he mumbled in unison with Calamitous. "That's not possible!"

"Actually, I think it probably was her," Shego commented.

"With some help from Neutron," agreed Beautiful.

Calamitous sneered. "Well, what of it? They made our magnet stronger. How much of a genius can Neutron be to do something like that?"

At the moment a groan from somewhere within the complex seemed to roll through the room, accompanied by a sudden rumble that nearly threw them off-balance. As they steadied themselves another, louder shriek of tortured metal was heard as the floor shook even more violently.

"I think we're about to find out," Beautiful observed dryly.

Drakken frantically jerked the lever up and down several times in a desperate attempt to deactivate the magnet. "I can't shut it down!" he called in a panic. "It's only a matter of time before the magnet rips itself to pieces!"

"But that will shut off the field, right?" asked Shego.

Calamitous nodded. "Yes. But the question is how much damage it will do before then." A violent tremor threw them all to the floor.

"And how long will that be?" Beautiful asked, struggling to her feet again.

"It depends on just how well Calamitous designed the magnet," Drakken answered. "It could be hours, or even days –"

Before he could finish a violent explosion reverberated through the building as the titanic magnetic induction coils ripped free of their mountings and were hurled violently against the walls of the chamber, shattering the reinforced concrete like so much plaster of Paris. The force of the colossal impacts rocked the complex, shattering floors and bulkheads and throwing the entire installation into darkness as power cables snapped like threads. Afterwards there was complete silence for some time.

"Or maybe less than a minute," Drakken continued despondently when he had sufficiently revived and picked himself up off the floor. "I don't suppose that civil engineering was one of your achievements, Calamitous?"

Calamitous stirred. "Well, it was going to be," he confessed, "but there were one or two keggers I may have gone to, and I never did find the time to get that statics project completed…"

"Well, I'd say you're going to have a lot of time on your hands to do that," a voice in the darkness said. "In jail," it added

"Possible!" snarled Shego. Two emerald flames illuminated the gloom as Shego prepared to confront her archenemy.

Drakken, a dim shape in the green radiance, pointed to the silhouette of Kim standing in the doorway. "Attack, Shego!" he ordered.

"Get her, daughter!" commanded Calamitous.

As Shego and Beautiful tensed to spring Kim said calmly, "Before you ladies do, you might consider three things."

"And those are?" challenged Beautiful.

Kim ticked off her fingers. "First, I'm wearing Jimmy's Omnispecs, and believe me, I can see all of you a whole lot better than you can see me. Second, Jimmy has just about finished putting together something he calls a liquid helium super-soaker, and from what I've seen him do so far I really don't think you want to mess with that. And third, unless you don't mind the Arctic climate I think you'd prefer taking a nice warm military transport to walking out of here. So what's it going to be?"

It must be said that Beautiful and Shego were practical people and that even Drakken and Calamitous could see reason when the circumstances were properly presented to them. Slowly the green glow around Shego's hands faded and Beautiful relaxed her stance as Drakken perhaps best summed up the thoughts of the four of them.

"I really," he moaned, "hate that girl."

End of Chapter 15

Author's Notes:

Some more astute readers may recall that Shego had blasted Jimmy before Calamitous mentioned that they had enough of the beryllium alloy needed for the supporting framework. All I can say is that Calamitous was speaking over a loudspeaker and since Jimmy would probably have fought to stay conscious he was able to hear that critical piece of information he needed for his brain blast. They may also wonder how Jimmy's watch still had enough power to drive his laser after being used to negate the force field of his cell. As to that, I'd have to say that it wasn't battery power that was a factor in how long he could shut down the force field, but how long he could keep power going through circuits in his watch to do so.


	16. Epilog Damage Control

Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Epilog:

"You know, this place rules," said Kim, taking another bite of her hot dog. "I've never been anywhere that had marshmallows as a standard hot dog condiment. I'll have to come here more often."

"Glad you like it," Jimmy replied. "Sam began offering them as a topping after my friend Carl begged him to, but so far you're the only other person that's asked for it. The menu items here are a little unusual sometimes, like the mustard ice cream, but people can generally find something they like at the Candy Bar."

"Oh, yeah," Rufus agreed, somehow succeeding in scarfing down his own frankfurter that was larger than himself.

"Speak for yourself," Ron complained. "There is not one Bueno Nacho anywhere in this town and not one person I've asked has even heard of a naco or chimirito." Rufus clucked his tongue in sympathy and began an attack on another hot dog, only to be pushed way by Ron. "Dude, that's mine."

"I thought you didn't want it," Kim pointed out as Rufus sulked.

Ron shrugged and took a large bite. "Just because I can't have a naco doesn't I'm going on a hunger strike," he commented, his mouth full.

Of all of them Cindy was the only one who hadn't said anything since their return to Retroville. Once the magnet had been put out of commission and Kim had subdued the four villains events had gone smoothly. As with Shego and Beautiful few of the henchmen had been willing to brave the chill of the Arctic night or a battle in the pitch blackness, and Jimmy and Kim had quickly shown the remaining few the error of their ways. The unforgettable sight of steel hit by Jimmy's liquid helium super-soaker shattering like glass had unnerved most of them, and Kim's martial arts prowess had cowed the remaining hold-outs.

Once the installation's power had been lost the force fields keeping Ron and Cindy in their respective cells had shut down, but it wasn't until military forces had landed and secured the installation some time later that Kim and Jimmy had been able to search for them. Fortunately both Ron and Cindy had had the sense to remain where they were rather than risk stumbling through the darkness so, assisted with information from captured guards, the two were quickly located. Jimmy had seemed delighted to see Cindy again, but Cindy couldn't help but notice Jimmy's subdued mood when Kim and Ron had unashamedly embraced when reunited, and Jimmy's (idiotic, Cindy thought) look of undisguised bliss when Kim had kissed him on the cheek for his help. It was then that Jimmy had invited Kim and Ron to drop by Retroville for a bite to eat before returning to Middleton and, much to Cindy's distress, they had accepted.

Now they were all in the Candy Bar and Cindy remained withdrawn, not touching her food or joining in the conversation with the others. Rufus, noticing the hot dog on her plate, sidled up and eyed it greedily. Cindy noticed him and pushed the plate towards the naked mole rat indifferently. "Knock yourself out," she said as she slid out from the booth and headed towards the soda bar. Neither Jimmy, who was engaged in a technical discussion of the Strato XL with Wade on the Kim-municator, nor Ron, who was busy with his hot dog, noticed Cindy's leaving, but Kim did. With a sigh she stood up to follow.

"Where you going, Kim?" Ron mumbled, his mouth full.

"To do some damage control," Kim called back. "Don't let Rufus finish my dog, okay?"

Ron doubtfully eyed the marshmallow-covered concoction. "Actually, I'm not sure he'd want to." Rufus, halfway through Cindy's own sandwich, simply belched and shook his head.

At the bar Kim slid onto a stool next to Cindy. "Hey, Cindy. I couldn't help but notice that you have something on your mind." When Cindy said nothing Kim went on. "You don't have to tell me what. I can guess, and there's a couple things I think you should know."

"If it's about none of this being your fault, don't bother," Cindy said. "Nerd-tron's done this so many times before I should be used to it. If it weren't you it would be April from Gorlock. If it weren't April it would be Sagebrush Sally. It if weren't Sally it would be Betty Quinlan. There would always be someone else he'd have a crush on"

"But never you?"

Kim's voice was sympathetic but the words cut Cindy like razors. Slowly, trying not to show how much the idea hurt, she nodded.

Kim placed a kindly hand on Cindy's shoulder. "Cindy, trust me. I've been there and I know how you feel. And there really are a couple things that you should know." Cindy's silence gave assent and Kim continued, "I know that Jimmy's been crushing on me and truthfully I have to admit that I'm kind of flattered. I mean, once you get past the hair and big head he's really kind of cute, and he really is quite a guy to have on your side. He's loyal, and brave, and trustworthy…a lot like Ron."

"Point?" Cindy asked.

"The point," Kim said, "is that crushing on someone is totally different from really caring about them. I really care about Ron, but I've never had a crush on him. Well," she corrected herself, "there was that one time with the moodulator, but –"

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that just because Jimmy hasn't had a crush on you, and maybe never will, it doesn't mean that things between you won't develop into something deeper. And you know, I really think that that's going to happen someday."

Cindy thought about that. "And what makes you think that?" she said sardonically, desperately needing to be convinced of Kim's words.

"That's the other thing I wanted you to know. When we were back at the base Jimmy tried to think of a way to shut down the magnet permanently. He came up with some ideas, and they were all right, but they weren't all that special. It was when he found out that you were in personally in danger because of the magnet that he had his brain blast thing. He wasn't thinking about me, or saving the world, or being a scientific genius. What mattered was that you were in trouble and he knew he had to help you." Kim let the words sink in. "That's what makes me think that he really cares about you. And it's what makes me believe that things between you will work out someday."

_She's good_, Cindy thought as she felt her black depression lifting. She turned to look at Kim, a quizzical look on her face. "Someday?"

Kim smiled. "He's only twelve. Give him some time to really understand what he wants. He'll get there. He is a genius, and geniuses can do anything, right?"

Cindy turned to look at the booth where Jimmy was still deeply absorbed in his discussion with Wade. What Kim had told her made sense. It might be too much for Cindy to expect anything from Jimmy now, but someday…

"Do anything?" she repeated. She turned back to Kim and smiled. "That's Possible."

THE END


End file.
